Forest of Ice
by TheThreeFuries8
Summary: The high priest had never liked Dean, but there was nothing that could be done with him, until now. Now he had a dragon to please and what better way to do that than to give the dragon a toy. What difference did it make that in the process he would be getting rid of the village nuisance? NOTE: Despite how the beginning looks there is no non/dub-con in this fic.
1. The Tribute

It goes against my religion to swear. Any place where there would be a swear word has been replaced with another placeholder word. In case anyone was wondering why the random words were there, or to warn anyone this might bother for some reason. The world that this takesplacein is a combination of medieval and modern. The houses and streets are mostly stone and the clothing is made of natural no electricity or steam motors. All the people have a modern understanding of things at this time. Doctors have a modern medical knowledge and people understand the concept of germs instead of blaming cats or an angry deity. The villages are far apart, and while they do trade with each other, this is the job of traders, so most common people never leave their village, which is fine with them since even though they are being called villages they are more like city-states.

* * *

Dean.

My life was perfect up until the day the stranger showed up. Okay, so maybe not perfect, what with the fact that almost the entire village hated me. The village's high priest, Zachariah, and I didn't get along, and, unfortunately for me, the high priest was the most important and powerful person in the village. Anyone the high priest liked, the village went out of their way to please, while anyone he didn't like was despised. Yet things seemed to balance out, seeing how almost everyone loved Sam. The kid was always so nice and thoughtful, it was almost impossible to dislike him.

But that was before the stranger. He was just passing through and only intended to stay for the night, but he ended up talking to one of the priestesses at the common room of the inn he was staying at. The conversation got on the topic of different villages' dragons.

Most of the larger villages had their own dragon, while a few of the smaller ones had an agreement to share a dragon. It protected them, their crops, and the livestock from outside attackers, wild predators, and in the case of the most powerful dragons, the weather. In exchange, the town paid the dragon tribute that differed from village to village. Some gave the dragons tribute every year, while others only had to pay every decade. It just depended on the dragon. Every village I had ever heard of at the time gave things like precious gemstones, weapons, furs, and books. The stranger was very surprised to hear how our village interacted with its dragon. His village gave their dragon specially prepared men for it to pleasure itself with. He talked about how much the dragon appreciated them, how much it did for them, and how rarely they had to pay tribute. After hearing all this the priestess when back and told Zachariah about the stranger's praises of their dragon. He called the stranger and asked him all about the specifics of how the dragon's tribute was prepared and what extra benefits were given to his village. The next day he called a village meeting and announced that they would be giving the dragon a new form of tribute. Of course, no one protested when it came to the high priest or to pleasing the dragon. He didn't give any specifics of what would happen, just said that within the week a fortunate young man would be giving the honor of protecting the village. I suppose it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise when I was the one that was "given the honor" of finding out firsthand how the stranger had instructed the tribute to be prepared.

It was morning when I heard a knock on the door. Two temple messengers and several guards stood on the other side. "Congratulations," they actually told me congratulations. Like I had won some kind of prize instead of being given to a dragon. "You have been given the great honor of serving our village by appeasing our great protector." Honor, yeah right, being given out to be a dragon's plaything was now an honor. More like having an angry high priest who had a dragon to pay and decided to take care of both problems at once, I thought to myself. "You will come with us now to live in the temple for a year so you may be prepared to please the great dragon."

As much as I didn't want to go with them, there was no way I was getting away from those guards, so I went along with them quietly, fully intending to break out later. I wasn't exactly sure what I would do afterward since the village wasn't near anything, and I had Sam to think of because no way in this plane was I just going to run off without him. Unfortunately, they were expecting me to try to get away. I was never left without guards and when I had to go outside they would actually chain me to one of the guards. After they caught me trying to sneak out one night they also started chaining me to the wall while I slept. Being held captive wasn't even the worse part. Not by a long shot.

They weren't kidding when they said they were going to prepare me for the dragon.

They put me in clothes that always felt a size too small, and I was never given shoes. Not that it really mattered, since I was almost never outside. It was always cold. They kept my rooms at a temperature where I could feel it, but not so it would endanger me. Besides my clothes, they gave me nothing to cover myself with. Every day servants would thoroughly bathe me in lukewarm water. I was mostly fed with strange plants and spices, and when I was given meat it was always some wild meat, never from our domesticated animals.

The week before Tribute day everyone seemed to go into overdrive. I was given much more food that mostly included meat. In fact, I was given so much that I had a hard time eating all of it, but they made sure I that I did, and I didn't want to find out what lengths they would go to, to make me eat it. Every day, after my bath the servants would pour some weird oil all over me. The day before Tribute Day I was given water but no food, which partly explained why they had forced me to eat so much at the previous night's dinner. However, if I thought any of the things that happen to me over the last year was the worst they could do, I was proven to be very wrong on Tribute Day.

The tribute was always given in the morning, right after the sun finished rising. In order to get me prepared and there on time, I was woken up early, because apparently, they had a long list of things to do to me to please the dragon. First up on that list was to shave every hair off below my neck, secondly, they washed me so thoroughly that I almost laughed at myself for ever thinking the other ones fit that description. Next, they once again covered me with oil, but this time they made sure that the oil covered all of me. Over the oil, they lay down some kind of spice or something like that, and I had to just stand there for a while covered in this stuff before they washed it off. Finally, I was dressed in a loose white robe that was so short I wondered why they even bothered to give me anything.

After all of this had been done, Zachariah came down to inspect me and declared that I had been properly prepared as if he actually cared about something other than getting rid of me. While I was certain the stranger had told him to do all this to the tribute beforehand, because no way was he that creative, I suspected that I was only prepared because Zachariah wanted to make me suffer as much as possible. Like giving me over to be a dragon's toy wasn't enough.

I was brought outside where there were three wagons waiting. The guards put me in the middle one before chaining me to the floor. One of the wagons was filled with the priests and priestesses that would take part in the ritual or were just high enough to come for no reason other than wanting to watch. The third wagon was filled with the normal tribute for the dragon, although not as much as usual.

The ride to the Tribute Spot was far enough away as to not get the village involved, but close enough that the priests weren't inconvenienced, no matter what they said about choosing the spot because it had the proper ground or whatever other excuses they came up with.

I was completely terrified, as any rational person would be to be handed over to a dragon. However, I was determined not to let anyone see that, most of all Zachariah. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. I forced myself to sit straight and glare defiantly out of the back of the wagon. Every second of the trip seemed to drag on forever, while simultaneously going by too fast. When the wagon came to a stop, I was left with two guards for what could have been minutes or hours.

When they came for me, it took all of my strength to not collapse in a shaking pile of goo. I was still determined to not let them see how scared I was on the inside. I saw the reason it took so long to get me was that they were setting up the ingredients needed for the ritual and arranging the rest of the tribute. The tribute was made up of several baskets, most of them filled with gold, but some that had other precious stones on top, and the middle one was on a shield. The baskets were arranged in a semi-circle around a gold-plated table. It had four legs that met in the middle with four curving pieces go from the middle to each side of the circle. Normally the table wouldn't have been anything special, as things like this were put out regularly to give the dragon some variety. Considering I was today's variety, the table made my stomach clench in dread.

The guards tied ropes around my ankles and wrists before putting me up on the table. Each rope was tied down to the curving middle so that I was spread eagle. The ropes had been tied as tight as possible, so I couldn't move more than my head and twitch slightly.

Zachariah went around and lit all the torches that gave off a scent which is what told the dragon when the tribute was ready. Somehow that made things worse, as I then realized that the spice I had been covered in earlier was the scent of the dragon's tribute.

"Oh great and powerful dragon, mighty protector of our village, please come to us and accept our tribute as compensation for all the work you do for us," Zachariah said. Some of the priest and priestesses sang in the background while other went around lighting smaller bowls of spice and poured water downed spice over the baskets of gold.

Nothing happened, no dragon suddenly appeared. No one seemed nervous, and they all seemed to be settling in. If they weren't concerned with the apparent lack of dragon, and they looked like they were getting comfortable for a long wait, that meant that not only was I tied up, mostly naked, spread eagle, half-starved, cold, covered in dragon tribute scent, and about to be given away by my own village to be a dragon's sex toy, but I had to lay here, possibly for a while, to wait for it to come. Every time I thought things couldn't get any worse they somehow managed to.

It was a bit past noon when something finally happened. I knew it was just past noon because I had watched the sun climb up all day and it was now passed its peak and shining right in my eyes, which of course I could do nothing about. Then I heard a sound like thousands of bats flying in unison. Apparently, the others heard the noise too as they were all getting up and whispering excitedly. The sound got louder as the dragon drew closer. The dragon flew in front of the sun covering everything with its shadow. When it landed, the ground shook. Without bothering to look around it shook itself, flaring out its wings, and snorting.

The thing was absolutely, flipping, gigantic! Of course, I had been told what the dragon looked like, everyone had heard the descriptions, but just hearing about the dragon was nothing next to seeing it up close, and soon to be, far too personal. Its scales were a shimmering black turning dark purple and back as the light of the sun reflected off of them. Its neck towered up high above me, supporting a head the size of a large house. On top of the head were two spiraled horns, and eyes so big that, even from this distance, I could clearly see where the blue of a clear lake with a thin layer of ice over the top. Starting just under the horns was a ridge of spikes that ran down the middle of its back, ending at the spade-shaped tip of its tail.

The dragon picked up its head and looked over at the tribute put out for it. I knew the exact moment it saw me, its eyes locking with mine. It reared up on its hind legs and fully spread out black, leathery, bat-like, wings. Each wing was so massive that I couldn't see where they ended. I probably could have built a mansion, given land in the dimensions of just one of those huge appendages.

It stretched its neck up as high up as it could go, spines flaring, and roared. The sound was deafening, the echo coming from the forest amplified it even more. This seemed to not be its normal behavior going by the sight of the priests, priestesses, and guards all cowering away from the thing. It walked over to me far faster and more gracefully than a creature its size had a right to and lowered its head down to me. At this point, I was too far gone to even scream. The thing then sniffed me, its shockingly cold breath pouring over me. As if it sniffing me hadn't been enough for the thing to be satisfied, it stuck out a long, forked, pink tongue and licked up one of my legs. Its saliva was slimy, sticky, and as cold as its breath had been. The thing then tilted its head back and let out another earth-shaking roar. Apparently now satisfied it picked up one paw big enough to crush a house without even noticing, and cut the ropes holding me to the table with claws longer than my entire body. It then quickly dipped its head down and picked me up so fast I had no time to react, not that there was much I could have done, what with the dragon already on top of me and the fact that I was currently paralyzed with fear. I heard it spread its wings and then take to the air.

Its mouth was freezing cold, and every breath that came out puffed over me like an icy wind. Something inside me snapped just then. I started kicking and scratching at anything I could reach. A small part of me knew that if it wanted to, the dragon could ground me between its teeth or just swallow, but the larger part was screaming at me to **do something, do anything.**

The dragon suddenly stopped going forward and just hovered in the air. It was apparently getting annoyed with me, so it grabbed me with one of its paws. The paw was arranged much like that of a bird of prey, with three taloned toes in the front and one in the back. The black talons closed around me in a vice-tight grip before the dragon dropped its paw back to the normal position and continued with its flight. The sudden, sharp drop down made me almost glad I hadn't eaten in a while because it certainly would have come back up right then.

I immediately stopped struggling, now able to see the drop. It would kill me. No questions asked. I would be dead. But wasn't death better than being a dragon's sex slave? My fear of heights said to just stay as still as possible, don't encourage it to drop you or accidentally fall out of its grasp. However, a much larger part of me was screaming to get away from the dragon at any cost. I started struggling as much as I could, but my internal debate was quickly proven moot when the paw didn't even twitch. I don't think the dragon even noticed. I finally gave up any hope I had ever had of getting away from the dragon. The only thing I could do now was watch as the ground flew away below me and let the mind-numbing terror take over.


	2. The Dragon

Castiel.

I woke up to my tribute scent coming up from the village. Yawning, I got up and stretched, before shaking myself off to banish the last tendrils of sleep clinging to me. The village always gave me nice things for my hoard, yet as curious as I was to see what I got this time, I liked to wait. Didn't want the humans to think I was their pet or servant. I might protect them, but that was my choice, and it was good to remind them of that fact. Also, I just liked to annoy them sometimes, as they could be irritating.

I looked around my bed cavern to see if there was anything to put away or clean up. I slept on a cave floor surrounded by a pile of my hoard. I liked to keep my hoard sorted, and the cavern that I liked to sleep in was one of the gold ones. The sleeping hollow was surrounded by piles of gold on all sides except for a gap to get in and out. I knew most dragons organized things based on personal preference and slept in the cavern with their favorites. I, however, found their sorting method to be far too arbitrary. Everything in my hoard was sorted by material, then by what the object was, and because I still wanted to show off my favorites just as much as the rest of my kin, I put the best pieces up higher in the corresponding room. This gold room mostly contained coins with the plain coins making up the stacks around me, the nicer coins up above the main pile, and the glowing blue rocks that lit the cavern in between.

Seeing that everything was in order, I went to check on some of the other caverns. Really I had no reason to do so, as I kept my cave clean, and even less of a reason than normal since I would have to sort the things the humans gave me today. But I wanted to stall going to them and this was better than just standing there waiting.

Tiring quickly of this useless task, I went to my water cavern to soak in the pool. The water was deliciously cold against my scales and washed off the dirt that always came with sleeping on the ground.

After soaking for most of the morning I got out of the water, which streamed off of my smooth scales, sighed, and decided I had put off going to the humans long enough. Besides the Tribute Spot was a good distance away from my cave and if I flew at a leisurely pace it would keep them waiting longer. Not to leisurely though as I was still excited to find out what I would receive. I walked up to the mouth of my cave, spread my wings wide, and took to the air.

The flight there was uneventful, as expected. The Tribute Spot was easy to see, even from this high up. It was at the edge of a forest, so there were still a few trees surrounding it, but not many. The trees then gave way to the rocky ground that was to be my landing point, before dropping off into a sheer cliff. I touched down and, still wanting to keep the humans waiting and assert my place over them, didn't even bother to look at what they gave me until I had shaken out my wings, which was unnecessary. I just wanted to show off my wingspan. With this last display of dominance, I decided that both the humans and I had waited long enough.

I eagerly looked up to see what I would get this time. My excitement, however, quickly died as I saw a human tied up on a gold table. What in the name of goodness above were these humans doing? I knew some of my kin liked sacrifices to be made to them, but I never had, and this village hadn't ever tried to give me one. There was no way on this earth or any other plane of existence that I was going to let this human die in my name. The man clearly wasn't even a willing sacrifice. As I looked into the human's eyes, which even under these circumstances still registered as green, more and more sickening thoughts came over me. What if they weren't just going to kill this human? Maybe they planned on torturing him first. What if they planned on sexually assaulting him in front of me because they thought that, for some sick reason, I would enjoy watching that? With the way they had him tied up it did look like a reasonable worry for me to have.

I reared up on my hind legs and roared. I felt bad for scaring the human worse, but this was all I could think of to get the others away from him before they could do anything. Everyone moved away from me and cowered down at my display. I quickly walked over to the human but was stalled by a scent. I had to make sure of it though, so I bent my head down to sniff the human. I was having trouble actually believing what I was smelling, and momentarily forgetting that I should be getting this human elsewhere with as little distress as possible, licked at trail up his skin. I threw my head back and roared with complete fury. These humans had put my tribute scent on him! I was at a disgusted loss as to why they thought I wanted a sacrifice in the first place, but putting my scent on him. Marking this sickening practice as mine. If the human hadn't of caught my eye just then I would have killed someone. I wasn't violent and didn't like to kill for more than food and then only woodland animals, but this was just so unacceptable. However, correcting them would have to wait until I got this human somewhere safe.

I easily cut through the ropes with my claws and picked the human up in my mouth. I couldn't take off from a standing spot. I was far too heavy for that, but that was why my Tribute Spot was near a cliff. I quickly walked over to it and took off.

As I was flying home, the human in my mouth started to throw himself around, and I worried he would hurt one of us. It was far more likely that the human would be the one getting hurt by hitting one of my teeth or just plain falling down my throat, but its thrashing about could hurt me as well. To avoid any of these scenarios becoming true, I paused for a moment, keeping myself in place with a few powerful beats of my wings, and transferred the human from my mouth to my paw.

It had the desired effect of getting the human to stop struggling. However, this didn't last long. After a few moments, he started to flail around in my paw. That was fine, as I had been careful to hold him away from the points of my claws, and I had held much bigger and stronger creatures than a simple human; he wouldn't be going anywhere. Apparently, he realized this as he stopped wriggling around and finally lay still.

When I got to my cave the landing wasn't as smooth as it normally was with just three of my paws available. I carefully put the human down on the ground and saw that at some point he had passed out. I shifted into my half-way form so I still had my wings and tail but attached to a human body. I could look completely human if I wanted to but I always preferred this. The only reason I usually shifted was to walk among humans, so I had charmed some clothes to appear when I changed.

I wasn't quite certain what to do with the human. It was obvious I couldn't leave him there. He was already shivering violently, and if I left him there much longer he would freeze to death. The problem was I am an ice dragon. Everything was cold. The rocks were cold, the water was cold, my hoard was cold, and I was cold so I couldn't even share body heat with him.

An idea came to me then. I bent down and picked up the human easily, although I hated having to touch him and draw out what little body heat he had left. I had never been so thankful for the way I organized my hoard. Some of the caverns were filled with furs that could keep the human warm. If I had just left them in a pile like most of my kin, he surely would have frozen before I could get enough. Instead, I carried him to my closest fur cavern and made a nest of furs around him.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only problem to solve. Clothing was another matter with an easy fix. After all, he was in a room full of furs. If he didn't like them I had other rooms with different materials in them: silk and purple dyed linen. The question of food was easily answered as well. I was unusual among dragons for many reasons, one of which was that I ate plants. No solely, of course, but most dragons lived entirely off of meat. I, on the other hand, had a garden. There wasn't as much of a variety as some gardens had because most plants couldn't survive in the cold, but there was enough there to last until I could go down to collect some wild plants that grew in the forest below my cave. There was a storage room of meat for times when prey was hard to find, but that, like everything else in my cave, was frozen solid. To get him meat I would have to hunt it fresh.

Water was a problem that was not so easily addressed. The only water I had was in my cold spring and the small streams that ran into it. He certainly couldn't drink that. I had no idea how I was going to warm up enough water for him to drink, let alone bathe in to get rid of that smell. Maybe someone gave me something at some point that could solve my conundrum. I made my way to the back of the cave system where my junk caverns were. These were things that I saw no use or beauty in but still kept because it made the hoard bigger just the same. If I had something it would be in there, because what need would an ice dragon have for a heating device. I looked through the cavern and just when I thought there was nothing, I found a heating stone. Heating stones were very rare and the best tribute to give to a fire dragon. They almost instantly heated up whatever they were put in, including water.

Now with a plan to care for the human, I went to my garden to get some food for him. Not knowing what he liked or how hungry he would be, I picked some broccoli, a beet, three carrots, and a bit of kale. I walked around my cave to look for a container big enough for a bath. He was defiantly going to need a bath. I could still smell my tribute scent on him. I needed to go down to the village both to make certain that they never did anything like this ever again, and to get the rest of my tribute. It was still gold, and I wasn't going to just leave it there. As for a solution to correct the mistake in my tribute, I had briefly entertained the idea of destroying the village. The problem with this simple fix was that there was no way that all the commoners living there had anything to do with the decision of my tribute, and I didn't want to harm innocent people. Something needed to be done, but not right now. Right now I had a human to take care of.

I gathered all the necessities: the heating stone, food, and a tub of water, in the fur room with the human. Looking around to check that everything was alright, I settled myself down on a pile of furs to watch over the human and wait for him to awaken.


	3. The Awakening

Dean.

I woke up warm and surrounded by softness. 'It's nice to be warm' I thought snuggling down deeper into the bed. It took me a few moments for it to really register that I was warm. Why was I **warm**? I opened my eyes to a dimly lit space that was covered in furs. More furs than I had seen in my entire life. Some of them were wrapped around me like a nest. The rock walls had lightly glowing blue rocks attached to them, providing the only light. That was the moment I remembered what had happened and started to struggle to get up. I stopped as soon as I got some of the furs off of me. The air was absolutely _freezing_. I didn't want to just sit here and wait, but there was no way I could go out there. It was so cold that my breath frosted the air.

"Good, you're awake," a growling voice said. I immediately looked around to try and find the source. There was a man sitting on the pile of furs. He had on a white shirt, covered by a green vest, and brown pants. This was odd in its self, as it was nowhere near enough to keep him warm, but that was the least strange thing about the man. His eyes were startlingly blue and were glowing slightly. They greatly resembled the wall rocks. I was getting more and more freaked out as I continued to look him over. There were two huge black wings outlining him, the points of which were arching up over his head. Trailing out from behind him and down the fur mountain was a long black scaled tail with a spade on the end. All of this was just like the dragon.

Forget the cold, I had to get away from that thing. I resumed my attempts to try and disentangle myself from the furs, but as soon as I started to get part way out, the dragon swiftly moved to where I was. He shoved me back down into the furs and held me there. I struggled against him as hard as I could, but it appeared that the dragon was no weaker in this form than in the other. Having not eaten for almost two days and running on adrenaline most of the last one didn't help matters and I grew tired very quickly. When I stopped moving the dragon took its hands off of me and replaced them with his tail.

"I'm sorry to have to detain you and probably frighten you farther," the dragon purred, "but it is far too cold to leave the nest until I have found you something warm to wear. However, I can find you something while you bathe and eat."

"What‽" I squeaked.

"Well," the dragon continued conversationally, "you must be hungry having not eaten all day, and you certainly need a bath. You are still covered in my tribute scent and I dislike it."

"I disliked being covered in it in the first place," I snapped back.

"Of course you didn't want to be murdered, but I neither asked for nor wanted a sacrifice. Your village came up with that idea on their own. I would, however, advise you to not take your anger out on the one who just saved your life and gave you a safe place to live."

"Safe! You think this is my idea of safe?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" the dragon asked. "As I said before, I have food, water, shelter, and clothing for you. Additionally, I saved you from the village's attempt to sacrifice you."

"I look pretty sacrificed to me."

"How? You are not dead."

"Dead?" Was this thing toying with me? "They were never going to kill me."

"Then what was their end goal?"

"For you to take me." What was wrong with this dragon?

"Why would I want to take you?" the dragon asked, canting his head to the side. "Did they think I would want to keep you as a pet of some sort?"

"No. Now would you just stop playing around and get on with it?"

"I truly have no idea what you are talking about."

"Sex!" I spat.

"You wish to have intercourse with me?" the dragon tilted its head again and narrowed its eyes.

"No."

"Then why bring it up?"

"You asked why the villagers gave me to you."

"They gave you to me because they think I want to molest you?"

"Well, don't you?"

"No!" the dragon looked genuinely offended. "I brought you here because I thought you were going to be murdered for me and I do not want sacrifices. The only thing I want to do with you is to keep you safe."

"Oh," I didn't really have a response for this unexpected development.

"Now, as I said, I have food and warm water for you if you would like them."

Well, I was hungry. And cold. And smelled like tribute spice.

"Alright," I said, still not fully sure I trusted the dragon.

"The water is just down there along with any bathing products you might want. I will bring you food and find clothes while you wash so you can stay warm."

The dragon then began to help me out of the furs. "Why is it so cold in here?" I asked.

"I am an ice dragon," he said like it was obvious.

"Well sorry, I didn't study how to identify the exact species of dragon on sight," I muttered getting into the tub.

"Not species, elements."

"What's the difference?" I grumbled.

"We are all the same species and have the same needs, but when born we develop an element. Being around our specific element pleases us and makes living easier."

As I adjusted my position in the tub, I felt a rock digging into me, so I picked it up and threw it out.

The dragon immediately jumped at the stone and threw it back in. "Do not take the heating stone out. It is the only thing keeping the water from freezing."

Now that I thought about it, the fact that the water was warm in a freezing cold room was strange, and the water had defiantly chilled even in the short time the stone was out. On the side of the tub was a shelf covered in cleaning products that probably would have cost more than I could make in my entire life.

As I picked up some soap to start washing, the dragon, who was kind of creepily staring, asked, "What is your name?"

That question startled me, as I had not been expecting the dragon to say anything, let alone that. "What?"

"Well unless you would like me to continue to call you human, you need to tell me your name." Man, this dragon had some snark hiding under all those polite and fancy words.

"Dean."

"Castiel."

"What?"

"My name," the dragon said with another tilt of his head

"You have a name?"

"Of course we have names. How else would we address who we were speaking to?

"We?"

"The other dragons."

"I thought that dragons were solitary and really territorial."

"That would be quite lonely. We take mates and hatchling live with their parents for years before finding their own territory. We are also allowed in the territory of close family members and friends, although we must remember that we are guests and that the territory and everything in it is not ours."

Well, dragons had friends. Who knew? I had learned more about dragons in my short time here than the rest of my life put together.

For a while after that, neither of us spoke. I finished cleaning myself and decided to stay there and just enjoy the feeling of soaking in hot water for a while, as he rearranged some of the furs.

"Would you like to eat now?" Castiel asked.

"Yes," food, finally.

He brought over a trey covered in vegetables. Normally I would have complained about being given rabbit food but at that moment I was too hungry to care.

When I finished eating, the dragon held up a towel and some furs. "If you are done bathing, I have some furs that should keep you warm. If you do not like them I have many other fabrics for you to look through when you are feeling more rested."

"I thought that dragons would rather die than give up their hoard." I might not know much about dragons but I did know that.

"I would," Castiel growled. "We do not give up our hoard. Not one piece of it." He started looking like he was ready to kill something. After a moment of glaring at everything in the room, he took a deep breath and said in a much calmer tone, "But you wearing it around does not count as a piece of my hoard leaving since it will still be here."

"Wait are you telling me I'm not allowed to leave the cave? That you plan on keeping me trapped here?"

"There is nowhere else for you to go. If you wanted to leave I would fly you anywhere in my territory or the unclaimed lands beyond, but I don't see where that would be."

I opened my mouth to continue arguing, but the dragon did have a point. I sure couldn't go back to the village. I had nothing to start over with somewhere else, as the dragon had made it quite clear he wasn't going to give me anything. I couldn't stay with anyone else. I had no family other than Sam to stay with. Wait a second. Sam! What if, since I wasn't there, Zachariah decided to take his hatred of me out on Sam? What if they used him for tribute? What if they just plain tortured him? All of these horrible thoughts and more spun around in my head until I shouted, "I have to go back to the village!"

Castiel did that confused head tilt again. "You want to go back to the village that sacrificed you? Do you think you would be accepted back?"

"No. I have to get Sam. I'm the only family he has. I can't just leave him there, especially not alone with them." There was pleading and panic in my voice that I would have never have let anyone hear under different circumstances and certainly not naked in a tub. But this was for Sam, so flip masculinity. I had to get this dragon to understand. I was getting the impression that there was no way out of the cave without him, and even if there was I had no idea where we were or how far away from the village the cave was.

"How is he related to you," the dragon didn't sound particularly interested.

"He's my little brother. I have to protect him."

"Ah," Castiel said a look of understanding crossing his features. "Protecting a younger nest mate. Yes, this I understand. What will you do after you find him?"

I had no idea about that. All I knew was that I had to get Sam back. But at the same time, it wouldn't do much good to get him back just to starve in the woods. When I didn't answer, the dragon suggested, "Why don't you simply bring him back here?"

"You would let me bring him back here? Why?"

"I was already planning on you living here. I won't mind having two humans instead of one. You don't take up much room or eat much." The dragon shrugged like spontaneously taking in two other living creatures was no big deal, "But that is for another day. You are far too tired right now, so dry off, put on some furs, and get some rest. We will leave when you are feeling better."

"I'm fine now."

"No, you aren't. You are clearly exhausted." As I opened my mouth to continue arguing, he cut me off saying, "The only way out of this cave is flying, so we will leave when I see that you are well."

With that, he set the furs down and left. I was never good at waiting or resting. I wanted to go now, no matter what. But it was pretty clear that I wasn't getting out of this cave, so I did as the dragon had said. I calmed my racing mind by telling it 'We'll be out of here tomorrow. I can just act like I'm better. '


	4. The Staring

Castiel.

Dean was terrible at acting. Every time I came into the room he kept insisting that he was fine, despite the fact that he clearly wasn't. I felt bad for him at first. I was the youngest of my siblings and I always felt the need to help them. I assumed worry for a younger sibling was the same feeling, just stronger.

However, that was three days ago. Three annoying days ago. And since then I have stopped feeling bad for him. Yesterday, I had considered taking him before he was ready just to shut him up. Ironically, if he would stop wasting his energy and just rest, he would probably be ready to leave now.

I walked into the fur room that Dean had been staying in to bring him breakfast. Before he could start up I said, "If after breakfast you can help me pack without getting tired we will leave tonight."

"I can go..."

"No, that was not a request. Now eat. When you are done, I will be at the cavern mouth." He was really starting to grate on my last nerve. Before he could say anything else, I left.

A few minutes later, he met me at the entrance. "Come, I will show you what you need to do," I said as I started walking deeper into the cave. I kept most of the clothing articles in adjacent caverns so we did not have to walk far, but there was enough time for us to talk. "You will need to find clothes to wear so you do not stand out. You will also need to gather furs for your brother, so he does not freeze on the flight back or upon entering the cave. We will also need food and water, but I will deal with that. We are going to another cavern where you can pick out clothes that fit for in the village. After doing that, come back here to pick out furs for your brother, and place all the clothes in this sack," I said handing him the sack. "Wait for me in the fur cavern when you are done. While you do that, I will get the food and water. I also need to take care of a few other matters, so I might be a while."

"Can't you do that when we get back?" Dean asked.

"In order for us to sneak into the village, it will need to be dark. I would rather get some work done today then sit in the forest doing nothing later," I reasoned.

"Us?"

"Yes, us. As the only way to get to the village is by flying, I assumed you realized that I would be coming with you."

"Yeah, I get that. I just don't think you should come into the village with me."

"And why is that?" I asked slightly offended.

"Well, you know," Dean stammered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Maybe it's because you have wings," he gestured wildly towards the appendages in question. "And, you know… A tail."

"Hiding them is as simple as it is to change from my dragon form to half-way."

Dean didn't really seem to have a response to that, so I gestured toward the cavern before turning to leave. Gathering food and water for two humans that would suffice for what would be, at most, a two-day trip was the simplest of my tasks. The next item on my mental checklist was food and water for myself. Water I could find along the way if necessary, but I would need to feed myself before leaving. I didn't have to feed very often, and even less living surrounded by ice, but it would be good to eat before going out on two long consecutive flights. I had been hunting more the past few days in preparation and frozen what I had caught. I disliked eating in my human or half-way form, not to mention how hard it would be to tear into frozen meat without fangs, so I shifted to my natural state to eat.

Then onto the last thing on my list. I knew that two humans couldn't just stay nested in my fur room, so I had been thinking of alternatives. I thought I was done with it, but needed to make sure that it was ready for Sam to move in, so he would actually have a place to move in to.

The first part was to find a satisfactory location to construct it. After cycling through many ideas I decided on a fairly large cavern, close the entrance of the cave, and with a small stream of water running through it from a gap in the wall. The water flowed down from the crag to a track that leads to the mouth of the cave, before going underground to join the rest of the water in the pool. After moving everything that was in it to a different cavern, I had started to make it livable. I had never had much contact with humans and thusly didn't know much about what they liked, so I just put in the necessities and would let them customize the space as they pleased. I put a bed of furs on either side of the room and covered them with silk and velvet. There was a small alcove in the back, mostly cut off from the main part. In there, I put a tub, many kinds of soap and lotions, and the heating stone. Containers for the water were on a shelf next to the stream and a chest was placed in the back to store clothes.

The final touch of the room had been the hardest. I knew from the beginning that the most difficult part about keeping humans in the cave would be the cold. A fire was out as there was nowhere for the smoke to go, and I didn't think just wearing furs was a good long-term plan. After two days of digging through my hoard, I found a way to make the heating stone work on a room. I kept the stone in the alcove because the humans would probably want to bathe in more than room temperature water, and having it in there so far had worked on the rest of the cavern.

It was now time to leave. I made my way back to the fur cavern and found Dean practically vibrating out of his skin.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, I've been ready," he snapped back.

"Alright but you still need to eat before we leave."

"C'mon man, I've been waiting around doing nothing for three days."

"Then you should hurry up and eat," I replied handing him some of the food I had gathered.

Apparently, Dean had figured out that arguing just made things take longer, as he started hurriedly eating his meal without farther complaint.

When he was done, I told him, "Grab the bag you packed and follow me to the cave entrance."

As I walked, I was quite amused at practically feeling the lost look on his face as I easily navigated the twisting tunnels of the cave. When we reached the entrance I said, "Get on my back in this form. It will be easier than trying to climb up the side of a dragon." Despite all of Dean's hurry before, he hesitated, and we stood there simply looking into each other's eyes. I had noticed that they were green before but never had a chance to really look, uninterrupted like this. Green had always been my favorite color, but it was hard to come by in an ice cave. The forest outside felt too impersonal. Yes, it was in my territory, but it was not in my cave and the cave was what I considered home. As for green in my cave, I had many emeralds, malachite, and agate, and while they were some of my favorite hoard pieces, in the end, they were just emotionless stones. But Dean's eyes. He was in my cave and was planning to stay, so unlike the trees, I could have a personal relationship with him. And contrary those unfeeling stones I so often looked into, there were such emotions in his true emerald depths that I felt as though I could see straight into his soul. And it was beautiful. However, that otherwise perfect evergreen landscape was marred by a look of fear. Somehow, despite the fact that we had only been together for a few days, I knew there wasn't much I wouldn't do to fix that.

"What's wrong?"

"What? Nothing's wrong. Why would you think that something was wrong? Let's just get going," he babbled.

"You have been trying to convince me to take you to the village almost nonstop for the last three days and now that I say we can go you hesitate. Somethings wrong and I can just stand here and wait until you decide to tell me."

Dean looked around, like a way to get out of this conversation would just spring up out of the rocks. When no answer appeared, he started to rub the back of his neck while saying, "Look I just don't like heights that much. It's fine though, nothing's wrong. Now, can we just get going?"

"You are not going to fall, and if you do I'll catch you," knowing I wasn't going to get anything else out of him, I continued speaking without giving him a chance to complain about my reassurances, "If everything is ready and nothing is wrong, then we can leave now."

I crouched down as he picked up our two bags. Getting him on my back was harder than expected. My wings were in the way so he couldn't get in a position solidly on my back, and if I shifted like this he would just slide off. In the end, I went into my fully human form, let him climb on, and then changed into a full dragon.


	5. The Rescue

Dean.

I didn't know it was possible for me to hate heights any more than I already had, but a lot of things I hadn't thought possible had been happening lately. Castiel's scales were smooth (I was not going to compare them to ice) to the point that I constantly felt like I was going to slip off. The strong cold wind blowing against me wasn't helping, and like the wind that was created just from flying wasn't enough, every flap of his wings sent another gust up from behind. And that was saying nothing about the noise. Every beat sounded like every bat I had ever seen was flying right behind me, and being chased by bats was not a calming thought.

It wasn't a short flight either. I had never considered that, since no one ever claimed to see a dragon out hunting or flying, the dragon probably didn't live nearby.

After what felt like forever, Castiel finally landed. He changed into his half-way form so I half fell off of his back. It was getting pretty dark, so his pale skin practically glowed and his eyes shone like the moonlight glistening off of a sheet of ice. (Well, flip. There went my no ice comparisons rule.) As I looked around I realized that we had landed in the Tribute spot, and I felt a shiver of fear run down my spine.

"Why are we here?" I asked, trying not to show how nervous being back here made me. Apparently, I failed, because Castiel wrapped one wing around my shoulders. I wanted to complain that I wasn't some little kid that needed to be coddled and protected by the big bad dragon, but I had lived with Castiel long enough to know that I would be ignored. At least that was the excuse I told myself. I would never admit that having the dragon's wing around me did make me feel safer. I mean, who would be stupid enough to attack a dragon? And as for liking it, the reason most certainly wasn't because I had always been the one taking care of others with no one caring about what happened to me.

My father had never been an affectionate person (understatement) when he was alive, and my mother had died giving birth to a third child when I was six, so I had never had anyone protecting me like this. Treating me like I was actually something that mattered. Something that the loss of would be mourned. It felt strangely nice to be wrapped up and cared for.

"It is the only spot around that has enough clear ground for me to land. We will have to walk the rest of the way to the village," the dragon said, startling me out of my memories. He didn't acknowledge the wing around me or my obvious nervousness, which I was thankful for because it meant I could enjoy the protection while pretending it was annoying and unneeded. When Castiel started walking, the wing around me pulled me forward so that I had to walk almost pressed up against his side. Which I most defiantly was not enjoying.

It took a while to walk all the way down to the village, and by the time we did it was completely dark, except for the slivers of moonlight that shone through the clouds. I felt the wing that had been around me the entire walk vanish, confused, (and in no way worried or disappointed) I turned around to see a completely human looking Castiel standing next to me. It was kind of startling to see the dragon looking so un-dragon-like.

"Where should we go first?" Castiel asked.

"The house we lived at."

"Change first, so if anyone sees us you won't look out of place," he said handing me the clothing bag. I took out the clothes that I had picked out for myself. Not looking out of place wasn't really going to be accomplished with these clothes, but at least they wouldn't be hot like the furs would. Not needing to wear anything on a regular basis, the only clothes the dragon had were from his tribute, meaning that they were all expensive or flashy. No one wanted to offend a dragon or break a deal with cheap tribute. I had chosen the least 'rich person' looking things that I could find, but they still weren't what was normal in the commons of a village. I looked over at Castiel who was just standing there staring at me with his too blue eyes.

"Uhm, would you like turn around or something?" I asked.

"Why?"

"So I can change."

"How does me looking at you impair your ability to change?" he asked with that cute little head tilt. Wait did I just think he was cute? Not the time to be having a crisis about liking a dragon.

"I don't want you staring at me naked," or at least not right now. Stop thinking like that.

"I have already seen you without clothing on," sometimes Castiel's lack of understanding humans was amusing. Other times, like right now, it was just irritating.

"Yeah but... could you just... not, right now?"

He sighed and gave me 'his humans are so weird look', but did as I had asked.

I quickly slipped out of the furs and into a long green robe with a stripe of gold running along the front and a thick black sash around the middle. I also slid into a pair of sandals I had found.

"Alright, I'm done. Let's get going."

When Castiel turned around he just stopped and stared at me as he so often did. At first, I had thought it was creepy, but as he did it more and more I was starting to like it, as it gave me a chance to stare back at him without being noticed. I shook my head to clear it of inappropriate thoughts. Now was not the time to be mentally undressing a dragon. Wait? What? I was just looking back because what else were you supposed to do when a guy is unnaturally staring at you. Seriously not the time. Have an identity crisis about possibly wanting to sleep with your live in dragon friend when you're not standing in the woods in the middle of the night trying to pull off a rescue mission.

"What?" I asked. Someone needed to stop this before it went in a (currently) inappropriate direction.

Castiel shook his head, "Nothing. Lead the way."

The two of us snuck into the village and walked down the dark and empty streets. After spending three days solely in a lit room the darkness was a bit strange. I walked in front with Castiel a few paces behind me until we came to the spot where what had once been my house stood.

"This is it," I whispered.

Castiel silently nodded to me and I reached out to try the door. It opened which was worrying. Why wasn't the door locked? As I walked through the house I quickly noticed that a lot of things were different from the last time I was here. Almost everything was gone. Just a few of the larger pieces of furniture were left. The biggest thing wrong was that Sam wasn't here.

What do I do now? This was the only place I could think to find him at. I had no idea what to do next and was starting to panic. "He's not here. Nothing is here. What do we do now?" I babbled until Castiel stopped me.

"We can rest here tonight and go looking in the morning."

"Rest? We wasted enough time resting already."

"Calm down," Castiel said while placing a hand on my shoulder. "We can't just run around in the dark streets with no destination, and you need to sleep. We will find him tomorrow."

As much as I wanted to argue I didn't know what to say to the calm rational dragon, so I just huffed. We went into one of the rooms that still had a bed.

"Now get into the bed and go to sleep."

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"Rest with you," he said like it was obvious.

"Where?"

"In the bed."

"With me?"

"Yes. Why would that bother you?"

Like with most things he said, I didn't really have an answer as to why humans just didn't do things. We had been living practically on top of each other for the last four days. "Fine," I huffed pulling back the covers to climb into bed. Castiel slid in after me, but on top of the blankets.

"Why don't you come under?" Not that I wanted him pressed up against me all night.

"I dislike warmth and my skin is freezing. You do not want me touching you all night."

Yes, I do. "Alright."

I bolted upright. "What if someone comes in?" The place wasn't covered in dust and this bed was still here, so clearly someone had been coming and going.

Castiel pushed me back down. "Don't worry about that. I will watch over you as you sleep."

"But you said you were going to sleep."

"I will be able to sense if anyone comes in. Now go to sleep."

Almost instantly, I did just that.

I woke up to someone shaking me and a hand clamped down on my mouth. I immediately started to struggle against the person until he leaned down and whispered, "Calm down it is just me. Someone is in here so be quiet." I stopped struggling and went completely still as Castiel slowly removed his hand.

How was I supposed to keep calm at that news? "What do we do?"

"Nothing."

"What?!"

"These are probably the same people that have Sam. If we let them capture us they might lead us to him. Seeing as we have no clue where he is, this might be the only way to find out."

"Are you crazy? You want to be taken by people that hate me and anyone with me? Do you have a desire to get tortured? Because I sure don't."

"Don't worry. They won't hurt us."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"I'll stop them."

"You said you were going to get captured too."

"In case you haven't noticed," he said dryly, "I am a dragon. I am much stronger than them and can control ice. If that doesn't work I presume suddenly growing wings and a tail will surprise them if nothing else, and if all of these assumptions are wrong I will just shift fully into my dragon form."

There was no more time to argue over whether this was a good idea or not because at that moment two guards came in. I could tell there were more of them standing outside the doorway. The leader let out this creepy laugh. "Well, you came back awfully quickly. Didn't expect to see you again. Just couldn't stay away from us huh? You even brought us a little friend. Now, how about you come with us calmly and maybe we won't hurt you just yet."

Castiel didn't seem to be affected by the man at all. He just got off the bed and let his hands be chained behind him. Guess I was out of options. I copied his moved with much less composer. The guards walked us through the streets until we reached the village prison. We were put in a single cell with no others around us. "Wait here," the guard said with another cruel laugh. "I'm sure Zachariah has been missing you."

He closed and locked the door and all the guards left. The cell was quite small with plain white walls on three sides and iron bars serving as a door. In front of the cell, there was a small walkway that led to a solid white door.

"Oh great. Still, think that this was a good plan. We're trapped in a cell and we still don't even know if Sam is here," I moaned.

"If this is where they brought us then it is likely the place where they would have brought Sam."

"That doesn't really help us. We are trapped in a cell!'

Castiel just gave me that stupid human look. He reached out and grabbed the middle of the chain with both hands and snapped it in half like the iron was no stronger than wet paper. The cuffs on each wrist started to freeze over more and more until they started to crack and they simply fell off of him. He then walked over and did the same to the lock on the door, before pushing it open and stepping out. When he was outside the cell he turned around and gave me this very smug look.

"Yeah, Yeah. I get it. You're a big bad dragon, and I beg your forgiveness. Now get your scaly tail over here and get these chains off of me," I snapped, following him out of the cell.

He winced at that. "I can't"

"What? What do you mean you can't? I just watched you break your chains and the lock on the door." And it was in no way extremely hot to see strength and power like that used as though it was completely un-noteworthy.

"I can break the chains off of the cuffs," he explained walking around behind me. "The problem is I can't freeze the cuffs off without permanently damaging you. We will either have to find keys or use something back at the cave." As he had been explaining, he grabbed my wrist and broke the first link off of the cuff before doing the same on the other side. "That is all I can do for now."

Well, at least now I could move my hands freely. "So any ideas for the door."

Castiel didn't bother to respond to that. He walked up to the door and just ripped the whole flipping thing off its hinges.

There were two guards standing outside where the door had been and the surprised looks they wore were absolutely hysterical. Before they could gather themselves from just seeing a door removed, Castiel smoothly slid up behind the guard on the left. He grabbed the guard's arm twisted it behind him and slammed his head into the door frame, causing him to immediately slide to the floor, unconscious. This seemed to finally snap guard number two out of his stupor. He drew out his sword and swung it at Castiel, but the dragon reached out and grabbed the hilt. I watched fascinated (because how often in one's life did a person get to see a dragon fight, not because I was slightly turned on by it.) as frost slid up the sword. The guard dropped the sword and staggered away but Castiel had already circled around to the man's side and tripped him so he fell backward. One solid hit to the side of his head and he was out. Castiel reached down to the guard's belt and pulled up a key ring. He reached up to me and said, "Here are the keys," in a voice that was far too calm for someone, human or not, that had just knocked out two full grow, well trained, heavily armored, and armed men with no difficulty.

"Remind me to never get in a fight with you," I muttered as I unlocked the cuffs on my wrists.

Standing up, Castiel gave me that confused head tilt. "Why would we get into a fight?"

"That's not... never mind. Let's just see if Sam is here so we can leave." This was so not the time to explain sarcasm. Again.

We walked out of the room to a hallway that stretched both ways and was made of the same plain white tiles as the room. "Which way do we go?"

"That way," Castiel said, pointing right.

"Any reason?"

"There is a spot in the building with a lot of people in very close proximity to each other."

"You can tell where people are?"

"Yes."

"What if it's just a bunch of guards or something?"

"Then we will leave and continue searching elsewhere."

"Alright then," not like I had a better idea. "Lead the way."

This was just like the cave all over again. I was almost immediately lost. Every single hallway looked the same, but Castiel never wavered, looking very sure of himself. We walked along in silence until he threw one arm out in front of me and whispered, "Stay here."

He moved up to the corner and stood there for a moment. Right before I was going to ask what he was doing, four guards, walking in a square formation, marched around the corner. Castiel swiftly sprung at the first guard catching him completely off guard. Not expecting to suddenly have an arm full of dragon, he fell over, knocking into the man next to him and tripping the guard behind, leaving only one shocked guard standing. With three of them tangled up on the ground and the remaining man stunned, Castiel dealt with them quickly.

"Come on. We are almost there," he told me while taking the keys from one of the guard's belt.

We went around a few more corners before coming to a door. 'Where are all the guards,' I thought to myself. Sure there were ones in the hall, but there should have been some watching the hallway with the prisoners in it. Apparently not bothered by this, Castiel fitted the key into the lock and opened the door.

The prison was just one long hallway with cells made of metal barred doors and solid walls, which had been at some point been white, in between each one. Most of the prisoners were underfed and covered in bruises and old blood from beatings. As we walked down the hall I felt like I was going to throw up. The smell was terrible, and it was hard to look at the people and know that some of them probably hadn't even done anything except made the wrong people angry, (at least some people in the prison had to be actual criminals, but there was no way tell who) but worse than that was the thought that my little brother might be one of these people that were practically rotting alive. And if he was it was because of me.

When we walked back out through the door after we had looked in every cell, I wasn't sure if I should be happy that Sam wasn't trapped here, or disappointed because if he had been we would have been able to get him out and take him home.

"Don't worry," Castiel encouraged. "We will find him."

"And how are we going to do that? He's not at home, he's not in the prison, and where else would they have taken someone that they didn't want." I was snapping at him, and I knew he didn't deserve that, but flip it my brother was gone. This had been my only plan and it had just failed.

Castiel, seeming completely unbothered by my outburst, placed on hand on my shoulder and said, "I don't know, but we will find him."

"How?"

"First we need to leave here, after that we can find a place to hide, talk, and make a list of places to look."

Standing in a prison, in the middle of a failed rescue mission, near a hallway full of criminals and scapegoats, probably wasn't the best place for a heart to heart but it was where we were having one.

"Why are you helping me? I get not wanting someone to die, but why take care of me, or offer me a place in your cave? I guess living alone might be kind of lonely, but even if that's the reason, why come here to help me break in and out of a prison? Maybe that wasn't really a big deal for you, as it clearly wasn't a risk and just a couple hours flight, but then after already doing all of this you go and essentially promise to travel all over the world for a person you've known for about four days and a complete stranger. Why?"

"Well, I am lonely. As I have not yet found a mate, I have been living alone from the time I left my parents' nest to find my own cave. I thought not living alone anymore would be enjoyable. I am helping you look for your brother because I might not have younger siblings but I understand loving a family member. I am helping you because I have enjoyed having you in my cave. Even though we haven't been together that long I think we get along well, and I can't speak for you, but I think you feel the same way. I am going to do whatever it takes to help you get your brother back because that is what you do for the people you care about."

That was defiantly the longest Castiel had ever spoken at once. That was probably more than he spoke in some conversations. With how calmly he had said everything I started to feel better, and he had spoken so earnestly about helping me that I knew he wasn't lying. I might not know where Sam was, but at least I didn't have to search alone.

It took me a minute to absorb everything that he just said, so it was a moment before I realized that he said he cared for me. A gorgeous, kind, smart, rich, powerful, and probably ancient dragon cared for me. I had no idea why anyone would care so much for me, let alone someone like Castiel, but he had said it.

We were just standing there in the hallway of a prison, so close that our chests almost touched as we breathed. We unashamedly gazed into each other's eyes, and I decided that I wanted to swim in those azure depths. Even if it froze me, it would be worth it. I was very much considering leading forward and kissing Castiel when his head suddenly snapped up.

"Guards are coming. I did not hear their approach as my focus was on our conversation."

All the panic that Castiel had just managed to take away came back in an instant. "Which way? We need to get out of here."

"We can't leave. They are coming from both ways. Just stay close to me."

The people were close enough now that I could hear the marching. They weren't playing around with us anymore. The group behind us had to of had at least ten people and the group in front was no smaller. My stomach sank down through the floor when I saw that Zachariah was leading the front group.

"Didn't expect to see you back here, and with a little friend too."

Castiel put his arm around my lower back and I slid closer to him. Not because I was scared, or needed someone to protect me. But it did feel nice to have someone else here. And there was no way I could fight these guards alone.

Zachariah began walking towards us. "I'm actually happy you're here, your little brother wasn't entertaining us anymore." Anger and fear mixed together inside me at those words. "Hopefully the two of you will provide entertainment for us in his place."

"You will not touch him," Castiel growled tightening his hold on me.

"What makes you think you can tell me what to do?"

"I was under the impression that you would do whatever I told you to do. Otherwise, why would you give up so much of the village's wealth to me?"

"You're insane," Zachariah sneered. "Get them," he ordered the guards.

A couple of them left the lines to do as told but stopped just a few paces later. Castiel had pulled me against his chest, wrapped both of his arms around me, and had shifted into his half-way form. His wings were stretched out as far as they could get in the thin hallway; his tail twitching angrily behind him. He looked straight into Zachariah's eyes and snarled, "Do. Not. Touch. My. Human.


	6. The Retribution

Castiel.

I looked down at the disturbed human as he dropped down to his knees and said, "I'm sorry your greatness. I did not realize that was you. I would never have acted against you if I had known and I would never try to take back what had been given to you. I'm very pleased to see that you enjoy our gift."

"Humans are not things to be traded, and the implications that you think I would want to own, molest, or in any way abuse a human is an insult. I have never desired that you harm another for me and I am in no way pleased that you have decided to start now. The only reason I am here now is to find his brother. I have no desire to waste any more time with you so tell me where he is so we can be on our way."

"I am so sorry you took offense from our gift. None was meant and everyone in the village holds you in the highest regards. I promise you, your greatness, that nothing like this will ever happen again and we will take great measures to amend our mistake. I would like to personally…"

Stars above this man liked to hear himself speak. "I care nothing for your apologies or for praises spoken only from fear. Simply give me his brother and never do this again and our deal will continue under the same arrangement."

"Yes, master. Whatever you want. I am simply your servant and I…"

What was wrong with this creature? "Stop talking about doing as told. In the time you have spent wasting air we could complete our business. Now, where is Sam? I will not ask you politely again," the hallway was far too narrow to accommodate my full wingspan but I flared them out as best as I could.

"I apologize for your delay your greatness, but…"

"What?"

"He isn't here."

"Then where is he?"

"I don't know," the man mumbled to the floor.

"How could you not know?" Dean suddenly exploded. "You were the one who took him. You admitted that you had him earlier. I swear to the great Earth Mother above if he's dead because of you…"

"No!" the man on the floor screamed. "He's not dead. At least as far as I know." This last part was whispered as though he was hoping it wouldn't be heard.

"Stop wasting time and tell me what happened that could cause you to lose track of a human," I growled.

"I sold him," the man responded, still talking mostly to the floor.

"What?" Dean yelled. "You couldn't have. Slavery is illegal. And you hate me. The only reason you went after him in the first place was to get to me. You couldn't have done that."

"Quiet," I murmured to him, hoping to get this all sorted out as quickly and neatly as possible. "We will figure out what happened.

"Care to explain?" I asked.

"Yes. Of course, your Excellency. Anything you…"

"In no more words than necessary."

"Out in the forest," he started, "there is a hut. Slavery is illegal here but anyone that wants to sell someone without dealing with the law can go to that hut. It's out of the village lines so not under village law. You can do anything illegal out there. It's not just for slavery. People go out there to do all kinds of thing, like…"

"What happens to the people that are sold there," I interrupted.

"Every couple of months a courier come to the hut to take everything there to other villages, where the different products aren't illegal and sell them there." This man disgusted me more and more the longer he talked. People were not things to trade or sell. "Two months ago I received word that the cart would be coming to the hut in about a month so I took the human you desire out to the hut and sold him. I don't know any more than that." I narrowed my eyes at him in warning. "I will swear on anything you want, master. That is all I know."

"Take us there."

"What?"

"To the hut."

"He won't be there anymore. The cart came almost a month ago."

"I don't care. Take us there."

"Yes, your greatness. You," the floor man said, pointing to one of the guards, "Take our awesome protector and show him…"

"No," I corrected. "I said 'you show us'. Now."

The man looked around for a response for a moment, before dropping his gaze back to the floor. He then slowly stood up, and, with a small gesture, walked off.

We followed behind the man through the streets and into a forest. Dean and I were walking a far enough distance behind him to talk. I leaned over and whispered, "I am sorry for addressing you as my human. I did not mean that as I view you as a something I own or as a piece of my hoard. I was simply trying to protect you from that man that had harmed you in the past and had obvious intentions to do so again."

Dean gave me a startled look, "That's fine. I didn't think you did. Do you really think we'll be able to find Sam like this?" there was a scared vulnerable look in his eyes that he only ever showed when he was worried about his younger brother.

"Yes, I do. We will ask the man there where the people are taken and then go there to look for Sam. We will find him."

"Thanks. I wouldn't be able to do this if I was on my own," he murmured, almost inaudible. At least to human hearing.

We walked in silence until the sun was almost overhead before the man said, "It's right here in this clearing."

The hut was small and made of slats of wood. Smoke was coming out of a hole in the top of it. There was a man standing in front of the door and when he saw us he put his hand on the hilt of his blade and began to walk over. My wings had been folded tightly against my back to stop them from catching on branches. I flared them out at the man and stopped him right in his tracks.

"He wanted to speak with you," the creepy temple man said.

"What do they want?" the hut man asked warily

"This man sold someone to you when he had no right to," I said. "Tell me where you send the people sold to you."

"I'm not sure where they were taken this time,"

"Become sure," I growled threateningly.

The man slid back against the wall, "I can tell you both the biggest place and the first place that the cart stops at, but I can't guarantee where each particular good is sold." I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and turned around.

"Where do you plan on going?" I asked the temple weasel, who was sneaking off.

"I didn't know you still needed me, master," the man stammered.

"Yes. Come here."

The man slowly walked over to the spot I had indicated with his head down. I put one hand on his shoulder, pushed him down on to his knees and left my hand resting there. "I told you I was not happy with the use of humans as bargaining chips. I have been planning out a method of punishment from the moment I noticed that you planned to use a human in my tribute. At first, I thought that I might just destroy the village, but that wouldn't be fair to the residents when you are the one at fault. Then I thought that I would change the deal. Maybe order for more to be given next time: more expensive or more frequent. I had to throw that idea out as well. Seeing as you were uncaring with a human life I doubt you would fix your own mistakes. You would probably just tax the people harder. I could just kill you, but I understand how sacred life is. After cycling through all of these ideas I truly was clueless about what to do, but then, just on this walk, I figured out how to justly punish you." I slid my hand up to his cheek. I then lowed my temperature so far that a large blue-white freezer burn was visible when I lifted my hand away. The man screamed but I had gone back to holding his shoulder so he couldn't move. "That was for trying to sacrifice someone, but you have desecrated the living in more ways." I placed a matching mark on the man's neck, before allowing him to fall to the forest floor.

I then turned back to address the terrified hut man. "I apologize for the interruption to our conversation, but I believe you were about to tell me something."

"I really don't have a definite answer as to where the person you're looking for is, but maybe if you describe him I could guess better. That really is the best I can do for you."

I turn a questing look to Dean, who had just been silently staring the temple man this entire conversation. When he didn't answer I lightly touched his shoulder and he jumped. "Sorry," he said. "What?"

"This man thinks he might be able to tell us where Sam is if you describe him."

"Yeah. Okay. He's taller than any person should be, brown hair that needs to be cut, hazel eyes, pretty thin, and about the same skin color as me."

"Okay," the hut man said. "I still can't guarantee you where he is but I can give you a list of all the places we sell to. The first place on the route is Andalun, but not many people buy there. The biggest village is Darttrenn. They usually buy almost everyone to be resold in the market. I think he would have either been sold there or in Stinloft. That's the best I can do."

"We should be going then," I said to Dean who just nodded numbly.

When we got out of range I turned to him and asked, "Are you doing alright."

"Wasn't expecting that with Zachariah," he muttered.

"Would you have preferred if I had done nothing?"

"No. just wasn't expecting that."

"Is something else wrong?"

"Nah. Let's just get going."

"Dean."

He sighed before saying to the leaf litter, "The places the man said to go are some of the worst villages. Stinloft is very poor and crime filled, but Darttrenn has this giant arena where they kill people for fun. If the man thinks that Sam is there then something has to be wrong."

I reached over and gently made him look at me, "I already promised you to help you find your brother and this changes nothing. Which place do you think we should look at first?"

"Darttrenn."

"Alright. I will be right back. I need to see if there is anywhere around to take off from in my full form." I flew up above the trees to look around. The clearing was not in the middle of the forest, like I had thought, but rather near the other side. It would be a short enough walk to get there and then fly to the next village.

Three days later.

The flight there, on the other hand, had not been short, but we had made it to a nearby landing site and then had walked to the outskirts of the village. "You should wait here," I said. "I will return as soon as possible, hopefully with Sam."

"What? There is no way you are going off without me to look."

"I don't want to put you in danger."

"I am capable of taking care of myself. And I think that being with you is safer than standing in some random ally while you go off who knows where for who knows how long."

"It would be better…"

"You don't even know what Sam looks like, so how could you possibly expect to find him without me."

"We don't…," I raised on hand when I realized that he was not going to give this up. And I had no good argument for that last statement. "You can come with me, but my idea for getting him back was to pretend to be a dragon that keeps humans as slaves and to say that Sam was one of my slaves that was stolen. If you come with me you will have to pretend that you are my slave. That means that you cannot speak or interfere no matter what you see."

"Alright. That sounds like a plan. If getting Sammy back means I just have to shut up for a few hours I can do that," he said with a nod.

"Also you have to remember that I am only acting to serve a purpose. I do not think of humans as slaves and I would never treat a person like that." There was the real reason I didn't want him to come. It scared me that my new friend might leave, or that he might only stay out of fear or convenience. I had never realized how lonely I was living alone until I suddenly wasn't alone anymore, and I had no desire to go back. More than that I liked Dean, maybe more than it should be possible to like someone so soon after meeting them, but I would miss him if he left, and it would hurt if he hated or feared me.

"I know how to recognize a lie. I'm not waiting here."

"Change back then and we will be going." He was currently wearing the furs since we had been flying.

About an hour later found us standing in front of a short smarmy man in a black suit in front of a doorway to a white stone building.

"Good evening gentlemen. Name's Crowley, and what can I do for you today?" he spoke with a strange accent and held himself with a confidence that didn't quite meet his eyes.

I flared my wings up at the man hoping that intimidating him might move this along faster. Or at the very least make him less irritating to deal with. The only reaction I got was a quick nervous flick that was gone as soon as it came. "Someone stole a slave from me. I heard that he might be here and I want him back."

"Yes, of course, your dragon-ness. And what kind of slave might you be looking for?"

"A tall, white, young teenage male, with brown hair, and hazel eyes that would have come here about three weeks ago."

"That doesn't really give me much to work with."

"Do you best."

"Alright then. Lucky for you I usually keep new acquisitions for at least a month before selling, to make sure that they are properly trained, priced, and to find any special skills to advertise. I will gather up all of the product that I have that matches your description," Crowley said before inviting us into the building. We followed him into a large lobby made of the same white stone as the outside. There was a ring of cushions set around the walls of the room that the man gestured to while saying, "Please make yourselves comfortable. I will come to get you when everything is ready."

Dean and I sat in silence for about ten minutes before a blond man came in to lead us into another room where Crowley was waiting. I had a lot of choice words that I could use to describe him, but I couldn't say that he didn't know how to get things done. The floor of the new room was covered in straw and there were four people chained on their knees to wooden poles fixed into the floor. I turned slightly to look at Dean who shook his head 'no' to me. I turned to look a Crowley and said, "None of these men is the slave that I am looking for."

"I could sell one to you at a discount if you would like. Help you replace what you lost or maybe give you an upgrade," he offered.

"I never had any intention to pay you for what is already mine, and I do not care about efficiency. I have plenty of slaves. I am only looking for this one because he is mine and no one takes what is mine. Now unless you have any other ideas about where he might be you have ceased to be useful to me and I will take my leave."

"I do have another idea about where your slave might be, but you most certainly will pay me for my services if not for the slave himself."

"I most certainly will not, and if you refuse to help me I will tell the dragon that protects this land that you are aiding in the stealing of my Hoard."

"Why would the dragon of this land care about what happened to you?"

"When a piece of one of our Hoard has been stolen it becomes a matter for all of us. Hoard is the most important thing for us and the dragon of your land will be outraged if I tell him that something happened to a piece of my Hoard." While I didn't think of a human as a piece of Hoard, it was true that if a dragon told another that a piece of their Hoard had been stolen it was likely that the other dragon would help get it back.

Crowley looked around angrily for a moment, considering his options, before saying, "Go wait in the other room. I'll go look at the arena. I sold them three slaves that were in too poor condition to go up for auction."

Back in the other room I turned to Dean and asked, "Are you doing alright?"

"He's at the arena. He was already injured and now he's at a place where people are tortured for fun."

"We don't know that he is there."

"Then we have no idea where he is."

"He might be here, and if he is then we found him."

"You never had slaves?"

Where had that question come from? "What? No. why would you ask that?"

"Just the way you were talking…"

"I was speaking as I would if something had actually been stolen from my Hoard. I would never consider a living creature as part of my Hoard but I know how having a piece of it stolen would cause me to react."

"So your Hoard really is the most important thing to you?"

"No. For me, family is the most important. That is the way that most dragons feel, but some do value their Hoard above all else. We will find your brother," I said, trying to change the topic.

"Yeah. Okay," he said unconvincingly.

We waited for a few more minutes after that until Crowley came back and said, "I found another slave that matched what you are looking for. Come with me to the back and the owner will show you."

At the back door of a large round building, made of the same white stone as the other building, we were greeted by a tall red-haired woman. She led us through a labyrinth of disgusting cells and cages. I picked my wings up as high as I could so the bottoms didn't touch the floor. When she stopped she gestured to one of the cages and said,Here's the slave that you were looking for."

I turned to ask Dean if this scrap of a creature was his brother, but the stricken look on his face answered for me. "Yes. He is mine."

"Not sure why you would want that back," she said with a disgusted flick of her wrist. "Or what you're going to do with him now. I could just keep him for you, I would pay you of course, but it would save you the hassle of dragging him out of here just for him to die in a few days."

"No. He is mine and I will be taking him with me."

"Of course. Whatever you say," she said before opening the cage and walking away.

"That's him," Dean muttered. "Oh goodness, what happened? We should have gotten here sooner. Why didn't you get us here sooner?" he yelled.

"Calm down. I know you're just acting angry at me because you have no one else to take it out on, but we should focus on solving the current issue instead of placing blame. The important thing is that we found him. "

"Not soon enough."

"He's not dead."

"You heard what that lady said."

"Hey, I told you I would help you. I am not going to break that promise now. We can get him out of here."

"And then what?" Dean snapped.

"There is a half-scale that lives about a day away from here. She works as our healer and she will be able to help him."

"A half-scale?"

"The offspring of a dragon and a human. Now we should hurry. See if you can get your brother up."

Dean bent down next to the cage the woman had opened before leaving and reached out to the person laying inside of it. "Sam? Sammy? Come on man. Sam," he was starting to talk a bit more frantically as he got no response. He then started to lightly shake Sam's shoulder "Sam!" until the man opened one eye and dazedly looked up.

"Dean?"


	7. The Past

Sam.

One year ago.

I heard the knock on the door early in the morning. When I got out of bed to go and see who was at the door, Dean was already standing there. I ducked back around the corner to listen to what happened. A woman said in a practiced and official way, "Congratulations. You have been given the great honor of serving our village by appeasing our great protector. You will come with us now to live in the temple for a year so you may be prepared to please the great dragon."

No. This was not happening. I knew that Zachariah hated my brother, but there was no way that he would involve the dragon in this. That was risking too much. What he would or wouldn't risk didn't matter anyway. There was no way that Dean would go along with this... he left. Without saying anything. Why would Dean, who normally was so stubborn and ready to fight, just go with them willingly?

I shouldn't be worried. That must mean that he had a plan. Of course he did. Dean always had a plan.

Except a week had passed since then.

And now a month.

And then two.

Six months ago

The next time there was a knock on the door it was the middle of the night and I was just getting ready to go to bed.

My first thought was that Dean was back, but that was a ridiculous thought. It had been six months with no word, and if he had somehow managed to get away why would he knock. I opened the door to see several guards. Maybe he had gotten away after all.

"You need to come with us," a female guard said.

"Why?" I asked.

"You are under arrest," a male guard put in, "for not paying your taxes."

"I can't. You took my brother away, and he was the only one who worked."

"That doesn't matter," the female one said. "You still need to pay and you haven't. Now come with us."

That didn't leave me with any choice other than to go with them. They chained my hands together and led me through the sleeping streets to the prison. The guards put me in one of the cells and left while throwing over their shoulder a mocking, "See you tomorrow."

Two months ago.

I sat up to see two of the guards, Hael and Ion, standing outside my cell. That was strange. After the first month of beating me almost constantly and a second month of doing it less often, they left me alone.

Hael unlocked the door and Ion walked in and pulled me up, "Come on. We got someone that wants to meet you."

They half walked half dragged me outside where Zachariah meet up with us. That was not a good sign. Without talking, I was led far into the woods. That was very strange. Usual they just beat me in another room. Maybe they were finally going to get it over with and just kill me.

After a while, we stopped in front of a wooden hut. Zachariah went over and knocked on the door. A man opened the door, "Zachariah, I believe you promised us something."

"Yes, Ishim, I did. Here he is," Zachariah said while indicating me with one arm.

"Ah, I was expecting something in a little better condition from you," Ishim said, looking me over.

"Sorry to disappoint. I'll give him to you for just one sheep and a promise to bring something more to your liking by next time."

"Deal. Mirabel, go get a sheep." Ishim took me from the guards and brought me inside of the hut. There were creates and boxes in a stack with various types of contraband making up the top. But worse than knowing that these were smugglers, were the rows of people chained to the wall by heavy iron collars.

Thirty-seven days ago.

"I caught this little thing trying to sneak out," Mirabel says to Ishim, holding me up by one arm. "What should I do with him?"

"Just break his leg. He won't be running away like that."

"But damaging him will decrease his value."

"What value? Just look at him. He's arena fodder, and neither the buyer nor the lions will care about one more mark.

"Fine, but if Metatron says anything about us damaging his goods and hurting his sales I'm telling him that this was all your idea."

"Whatever you tell him is fine with me, Mirabel."

Twenty-nine days ago.

"So what do we have for the semi-annual sale this year?" a new irritating voice asked.

"We did very well this season, Metatron," Ishim answered. "We have many more slaves to sell than normal, along with the usual items of interest."

"By more slaves do you just mean more arena fodder or things of actual interest?"

"Most of them are in pretty decent shape. We should be able to make a lot of money with this load. Mirabel, Metatron's here. Start loading up his cart."

Twenty days ago.

The cart stopped early today. At least I think it did. I was hard to tell. A short, well-dressed man jumped into the back of the cart.

"Yes, this certainly is a good load you brought for me," he said. "I'll take them all except four of them over there." I wasn't certain if I should feel happier or more hopeless that I wasn't one of the four he did not plan on buying.

The next day we were all together in one room. The man called over to a taller blond man, "Take those three of them over to the arena for Abaddon to play with." This time I was one of the ones indicated.

"Yes, sir," the man said.

Now.

"Sam!" that was strange. I know I hadn't told anyone my name. Maybe this whole thing had been a long weird dream. "Sam!" but if this was a dream then why did it hurt so much? I slowly opened my eyes and started to wonder if I was hallucinating now. That didn't make sense. Why would I start now? They fed us well here. At least better than any of the other people had.

"Dean?"

"Yeah, man. It's me. Come on, we have to get you out of here."

"I can carry him from here to a place I can take off from," a deep voice with a hint of a growl in it said from out of my view.

"No. I got him, Cas."

"Dean, I am stronger than you."

"No, I got…"

"Dean, I know you have been looking for your brother and don't want to give him to anyone now that you have found him, but I can carry him faster than you can and I will not tire from it. And the faster we go the sooner we can get Sam the help he needs."

Dean gave a heavy, defeated sigh. "Come on Sammy," he said offering me an arm. When I had gotten out of the cage a man with a pair of huge bat-like wings walked over and picked me up like I weighed as much as a sack of feathers. A pained sound escaped me as my broken leg was jolted.

"Woah. What happened? Are you going to be alright?" Dean asked, jumping into protective mode.

"Leg's broken," I grunted out.

We flew for a while. I was in and out of consciousness so I had no idea how long that while was. The part of the trip that I was awake for, Dean told me about the year he had. But despite the fact that the majority of the time was spent in the prison, he mostly talked about the week he had spent meeting and journeying around with the dragon we were currently riding.

Metatron.

I was finally back home. I was standing in the middle of the plaza of Darttrenn when I heard an irritatingly familiar accent call my name. I turned around to see Crowley and his favorite minion walking toward me. Had to pretend to be friendly to this creep now. He was my best costumer. "What can I do for you today?" I asked as politely as I could manage.

"What is wrong with you? All these years of being a loyal customer at your cart, helping you evade the police of less friendly villages, and this is how you repay me?"

"Was there something wrong with this season's sale?"

"Was there something wrong? How about the fact that you sold me a stolen slave?"

"If he was stolen it wasn't by me and you should be able to keep what you buy with all the protection you can afford," I said, openly sneering now.

"It was a danged flipping dragon's slave, you absolute moron!"

"There is no way that someone managed to steal a slave from a dragon."

"Then why did a dragon show up demanding that I give him back his slave?"

"Are you sure it was a dragon?"

"It had giant flipping wings. Yes, I'm certain it was a dragon, you imbecile."

"Look, I didn't…"

"I don't want to hear your excuses. Just make certain nothing like this ever happens again or I will do so much worse to you."

Before I could properly process his words or try to find a meaning he snapped his fingers and call out, "Brady!" He then turned around and began to walk away.

The minion that had been with him moved much faster than me. So fast, in fact, that I didn't even see the crossbow he had on his belt before the bolt was buried deep in my leg.

* * *

The last part isn't meant to foreshadow anything, I just really wanted to punch Metatron in the face. And then I wrote that and had the thought 'The canon version got shot. I'm letting this one off easy.' So now he has been shot,


	8. The Healer

I made up the word Falishian to mean African, as Africa is not a place in this world.

* * *

Dean.

The wide, wooden slat door of the stone cottage in front of us opened to reveal a middle-aged Falishian woman with dark violet wings. "Castiel, what were you off doing this time?"

"Nothing," the dragon next to me said, sounding almost… embarrassed? "My friend's brother is injured. I was hoping you could help him."

"You finally found yourself a friend? And of course, he would be a human," she said, looking at me. "You're going to have to come to see me again. Show me those little half-scale babies you're going to adopt. I'll teach them how to fly the right way."

"Missouri, we're not…"

"Don't you try to lie to me boy. That look you two have is just like my momma and daddy give each other."

"So can you help him?" I interrupted.

"Yes honey, of course. Just give him to me and I'll get him all fixed up."

"No, I can take…"

"You come over to my house, asking for my help, and think you're going to be telling me how to do my job. I'll take care of him. You look exhausted anyways, so how about you get upstairs and get to bed." With that she picked Sam up and walked back into the house, leaving the door open.

"Come on. I'll show you to the upstairs bedroom," Castiel said.

Once we were up there I turned to him, "I don't know how to thank you for doing this for me. I've never been good at telling things like this to anyone. I've always been better at showing, so…" I leaned forward and kissed him. And it was…

Like kissing a board. He didn't move at all under me. I stopped and looked at him. The look on his face was panicked and not something anyone wants to see after a kiss.

"I have to go," he said and practically ran off.

Well, I thought he wanted that too. The staring and then Missouri's comment downstairs. I had thought we wanted the same things. I guess not. I went and sat on the bed. I was not going to cry over being rejected. I was not going to cry in the upstairs bedroom of some stranger's house.

Some time had passed, if someone asked me I would have said hours, but realistically it had probably been no more than eight moments before Castiel came back.

"I'm sorry," I started. "I thought you wanted that. Maybe we could just forget that that happened. Sorry. That was stupid to just assume. I just thought that you wanted the same thing."

"I do," he said, ending my babbling.

"What?"

He sighed and seemed to deflate slightly, before walking over and sitting next to me on the bed, "I just cannot do this."

"Why not?"

"Because you're human."

"So what? Clearly, no one cares if a human and a dragon get together and even if they did so what? You really care what a bunch of strangers think? They can all go flip themselves for all that I care."

"No, very few dragons still say that inter-special relationships are improper, and you are right about not caring for others opinions."

"Then what is it?" I asked when it became clear he had no intentions of continuing.

"You are going to die."

"Everything is."

"Yes, but dragons live very long lives. If we were together then I would have to watch you slowly age. I would have to watch you die in front of me and then have to go on living."

"You invited me to live with you. You're going to have to do that anyways."

"It would be different if we were together. It is different for a mate to die instead of a friend."

"Whether we're officially together or not our feelings won't change." I was getting annoyed with this conversation so I leaned over and kissed him again. When he still didn't respond I leaned back just enough to whisper "Tell me to stop." Another kiss. "Tell me you don't want this." Kiss. "Tell me you're going to regret this."

He started to lean into me this time, so I took that as my cue to stop talking and run my hands through his hair. We continued to kiss, although it was quite awkward at first, as the dragon didn't seem to know what to do, but a few moments later he caught on.

I pulled back intending to take a breath and then make out some more. Maybe go a bit farther. But there was a hurt look in Castiel's eyes and his wings dropped slightly. "I am sorry. I have never tried to do this before. Was that not correct?"

"No, man that was great. I just needed to breathe for a moment."

"Oh," he said, looking even more dejected. "I don't know anything about humans, and I have never tried to have a relationship. We shouldn't…"

"Hey, none of that. I don't know anything about dragons either, and it's not like I've had a lot of experience in a relationship. We're both new at this. We'll just have to figure this all out together."

"But I could hurt you. I already almost did without realizing."

"You won't hurt me."

"You can't know that."

"Yes, I can. You've been taking care of me this entire time and have never hurt me. I know you won't," I think I've talked about feelings with this dragon more than any other time in my life combined. Time to put an end to that. "Now come on. There is one part of this that I know how to do."

Castiel had a slightly panicked look as he said,"But I have never…"

"I know. You said that already. Just trust me. I'll show you what to do.

"I do trust you, Dean," he said far more seriously than this situation required.

After a brief pause for me to process that, I wrapped my arms around his back and pulled him down on top of me. He let out a startled yelp that was absolutely hilarious to hear coming from this scary, warrior dragon. "Dean I don't know…"

"Calm down baby. Just do what feels good." I then resumed kissing him (along with deciding to be happy that he hadn't said that he wasn't an infant) and after a second's hesitation, he kissed me back.

Things didn't stay this innocent for long. I ran my hand up his muscular body, nibbling on his neck, and shoving his shirt up until it caught on his wings. "Cas," I moaned out in between kisses. "How do I get this shirt off?"

"Never tried to get it off. I will hide my wings and tail until the morning."

"No!" I shouted as the wings vanished. "I like them. Just undress and bring them back."

He looked at me, startled, "You like them?"

"Why wouldn't I. They're flipping amazing."

"They are black and ugly."

"They're not ugly. They're beautiful. Why would I think they were ugly just because they're black?"

"Dragons should resemble their element. Ice dragons should be blue."

"Well, I don't care what color you're wings are, as long as you get that shirt off, get them back out, and get up here."

"Okay," he muttered, looking slightly embarrassed.

I briefly considered leaving my clothes on, but if he had never taken his own clothes off, he probably wouldn't have much of an idea of what to do with mine.

Castiel brought his wings back out and crawled back on top of me so our bodies were pressed together. His skin was freezing cold. This was a problem. I couldn't stay in contact with him for long and there was no way I was going to be able to get aroused like this.

After a brief moment of thinking, I flipped us around so I was on top. I held myself up on my arms so our bodies didn't touch and started to kiss my way down his chest, while he threw his head back and started moaning.

I kissed and sucked my way up and down his body making sure to pay extra attention to his hip bones. I felt a sense of pride in managing to make a dragon fall apart under me. When I slid back up to his chest I reached around him and found the place where his wings met his back.

His back arched up and he screamed, "Good Gaia. Dean!"

"You like that?" I teased.

"Oh, yes. Do that again. Please!" Castiel moaned. I continued to play with his wings while kissing my way back down his body. This time when I came to his arousal I swallowed him down with no warning, as he writhed underneath me.

If someone had asked me yesterday if ice had a taste I would have said no, but tasting him, that was all I could think of. I pulled off just before he could come. "Dean. Please. So close." He begged me.

"Don't want to end like this," I panted. "Want you. Want you inside me." and then an unwanted thought broke into my mental bliss. "Flip!"

"What's wrong?"

"We don't have any oil."

"Why does that matter?"

"Okay, so when two guys are together, you need oil to make things better or to. Look you just do," I stammered out.

"Oh, would this work," Castiel asked while rubbing the inside of one thigh. His hand came back covered in some oily substance.

"Maybe, but what is that?"

"Dragons have six glands on their bodies that produce scenting oil. We use it to mark our territories. And our mates."

"Oh, flip that's hot. Yes, we can defiantly use that."

"What do I do with it?"

Was I going to have to talk him through this? "Put it on your fingers and you have to open me up. With one finger at a time."

"I do not think that would be the best idea."

"Why?"

"I have claws on my fingers. I would hurt you." When I looked at his hand I saw that he did indeed have claws. How had I not noticed that before? "You should be the one to be inside me."

"No. I want you inside me. I'll just open myself up. With your oil." Earth mother above, this was hot. I reached in between his legs and found the small oil-producing gland. I rubbed it a bit more than necessary as the dragon groaned under me. I opened myself up a little faster than I normally would, but flip it I wanted my dragon inside of me.

When I was ready I climbed up on top of him and lined myself up with him. We both groaned as I sunk down onto him, his wings flapping underneath him, and the burn of being stretched open almost negated by the coldness of his arousal.

While I adjusted to having him inside of me (and oh good Gaia, there was a dragon inside of me.) I reached behind him and started to play with his wings again. I felt something cold and scaly on me, and when I looked down I saw his tail coiling itself up my hips and around my abdomen. I could feel the smooth length of it rubbing along my body as I started to move.

"Touch me," I growled while leading his hands down from my chest. It didn't take long before he came and I quickly followed. After that I fell onto the bed, mostly covering one of the dragon's wings.

"That was… just." It was nice to see the usually so well put together dragon looking so undone and having no idea what to say.

"Yeah," I agreed. "That was great. Stay here. I'm going to go get something to clean us up with, then we can go to sleep."

After I returned and cleaned us both up, we lay down together. I was under the cover and Castiel was on the outside but pressed up against my back. "Don't like this. Want to feel you," I mumbled sleepily. In response to that, Castiel uncurled a wing and lay it across me like a second blanket and threw his tail over my hip.

"Better," I grumbled before quickly falling asleep.

The next morning Missouri woke us up. She didn't seem to care at all that Castiel was completely naked and I was only wearing a cover and a wing. "Told you the two of you would be great together, now get downstairs. Breakfast is ready and Sam is awake."

That got me up. The two of us quickly dressed and made our way through the house. I followed Castiel into a side room where Sam was laying on a bed on the floor. He looked terrible, although thankfully much better than yesterday. All the blood and mud had been cleaned off and all the injuries I had seen had been covered in clean white bandages.

"Come on, Honey," Missouri said to Castiel. "Let's give these two some time alone." The two of them left.

I turned to Sam and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Good, considering everything that happened. I remember you talking to me when we came here, but I can only remember part of it. How did you find me?"

This was amazing. I was free, my brother wasn't under immediate threat of dying, and I was now in a relationship with an awesome dragon. Happier than I had been in a while, I settled down next to my brother and retold him the story of the last week of my life, and more importantly, the dragon I had spent it with.


	9. The Plan

Castiel.

"Missouri, I need to speak with you," I said when we were alone in the kitchen.

"What's wrong, Honey?" she asked, turning to look at me.

"Dean and I had intercourse for the first time last night."

"I know. You think I'm deaf?"

"I apologize for disturbing you."

"Never mind that. I'm not stupid either. I figured you would get up to something in that room. So what went wrong?"

"Nothing was wrong, but I don't know how to deal with a human."

"Dean doesn't know anything about dragons, but he's still clearly willing to give learning a chance."

"That is not it. I don't know how to deal with humans' short lifespans. I will have to watch as he dies."

Missouri looked at the ceiling, seemingly having an internal argument. "Are you serious about keeping him and the relationship? How much do you truly care for him?"

"Yes. I have never felt this way about anyone or anything. I care more for him then my Hoard."

"Does Dean feel the same way?"

"I cannot know another's thoughts, but I believe that he desires to be with me as much as I desire him."

"There a secret that I know. A dragon that knows a way to turn humans part way into dragons. One of the biggest effects of this is a longer life. Still not quite as long as a pure dragon, but close. You will need to have a talk with Dean next time you are alone. This is a very serious commitment and not entirely safe. Both of you need to think about it before you decide whether to do this or not."

"Thank you so much for this, Missouri. I will talk to him."

I helped Missouri set the table for breakfast, and we all ate when Dean came out saying that Sam was sleeping. After we had all eaten and cleaned the dishes, Dean and I went back upstairs to the room we were sharing.

"Dean, I need to talk to you," I said, sitting down on the bed.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" he asked, sitting next to me.

"Nothing is wrong. I was talking to Missouri while you were seeing Sam. I told her about my worries about you being human and having a decreased life expectancy from me. She told me about a dragon that could turn you into a half dragon. She said that this will give you a longer lifespan, but it will also change other things and that it is not guaranteed that everything will go well."

"Well, that's, I don't…"

"You should wait and take some time to think about this. It is a very big decision and I will understand if you decline."

"No, Cas, I'll do it."

"You should take more time to think this through."

"I don't need to. If there's a way for us to be together I want to take it. I want to be with you. I don't need to think about this."

"Thank you. I don't know what I did to deserve someone like you. I care for you more than I care for my Hoard."

Dean looked at me with a startled expression. "Cas, I don't. I'm just not. Look I'm the one that doesn't deserve you. I still don't know what I did that made you want to help me, but I'm glad you're still here." Dean leaned over and kissed me before I could correct his strange line of thinking.

That night at dinner we told Missouri our decision. "You should think about this more. This is a life-changing decision."

"I know Missouri," Dean said, "but I want to do this, and more time won't change my mind."

"If you're completely certain," Missouri said. "I'll tell you the way to go, and help get you packed so you can leave in the morning."

"In the morning?" Dean exclaimed. "We can't leave now. What about Sam?"

"It's better if you leave before he finishes healing," Missouri said calmly. "There is nothing you could do to help him heal faster if you stayed, and if you waited until he was finished healing then you would be leaving him alone in your cave. It's better if you go now so I can take care of him."

"Couldn't you just keep him until we get back if we do wait to go?"

"I can't predict when someone is going to get injured. I'm not psychic. No offense to you, but I need all of you gone as soon as possible so I have room to treat someone else when they get injured. Now if you're done eating, clean up those plates, boy. I cooked the meal for you and I'm not here to be a maid." With that, the conversation was efficiently ended.

We set off in the morning for the cave that was owned by a fern dragon named Gadreel. It took us four days to get there and when we did we were greeted by a small female dragon with lavender wings.

"Hello, how may I help you two today?"

"We are here to see Gadreel," I said.

"Oh," she exclaimed. "Of course. I will be right back."

Missouri had explained to us that this place was meant to be kept a secret. The premise was a cave for various types of plant dragons to meet together. Very few dragons knew that the place was actually run by Gadreel as a space to perform experiments on other dragons that wanted something enough that they felt it alright to test out a new procedure to get it.

A small, blond dragon with pink-red wings and a bright red tail walked in to greet us. "My name is Samandriel. Come with me and we can discuss why you have come here."

"We are here to speak with Gadreel," I said raising my wings slightly.

The small dragon did not seem to care. "Gadreel does not like to have his time wasted. My job is to make sure you are not here to try and steal anything or bother him with useless questions. If you have a true reason to be here, then I will take you to speak with Gadreel." He turned around and gestured for us to follow with one wing.

Samandriel led us to a small circular cavern and we all sat down on a rock outcropping. "Tell me everything about why you are here," he said.

"We want you to turn Dean into a half-scale," I answered.

"No. I said to tell me every part of why you are here. Many dragons only come to try and steal our products," he countered.

Dean and I explained what we wanted and why and at the end Samandriel gave a small nod and said, "I will go tell Gadreel. If he agrees I will bring you to meet him." Then the dragon left.

It was a long wait until he came back, and I was becoming very worried although I was careful not to let Dean see. He already looked nervous enough despite the fact that he was doing the same thing as me and trying to hide it. When the red dragon did come back he simply said, "Gadreel has agreed to see you. Come with me," before leaving with a flick of his tail. Samandriel led us into a much larger cavern with many tunnels branching off of it. He walked over to stand behind a larger blond dragon with green wings and tail in the middle of the room.

Gadreel didn't waste any time with introductions. As soon as we were standing in front of him he turned to Dean and asked, "You understand that this procedure will change you in many ways other than the longer lifespan you desire? That it will be a painful transition, and that there is no guarantee that you will live through it?"

"Yes," Dean said with a small nod.

I could see that despite his unwavering voice that he was more worried than before so I said, "We were aware that he would be a half-scale, but not what specifically would be changed."

"Turn-scales," Gadreel started, "almost always grow wings and a tail. Any other features seem to appear randomly. Turn-scales can grow claws, sharper teeth, oil glands in any of our six spots, random patches of scales, or slitted pupils. Presuming you would like me to make him an ice turn-scale, he will also be able to handle much lower levels of cold. Anything else you need to know or can we get started?"

"Nothing else," I said. He sounded irritated by the delay that the question caused and I did not want him to retract his agreement.

Gadreel turned and began to walk away, telling us to follow with a flick of his tail. "Your human will be kept in a cavern and not allowed to leave until the process is finished. You may stay with him if you would like, but if you do you will have to stay the entire time. Samandriel will feed you and will monitor the changes. When the wings are ready to come out I will examine your human. At this point, I will be able to tell all the changes that will occur."

I did not like how he continuously referred to Dean as my human and he clearly didn't either, but I silenced him with one wing so he could not offend the fern dragon that could give us a future together.

"This is the cavern," Gadreel said, leading us into a small room with only a bed in it. "I will go get the formula that will change him. If you do not plan on staying go back to where you came in and Hannah will show you a room you can stay in." With those last instruction, Gadreel turned and left.

Dean turned to me and nervously muttered, "Well, uh, I guess I see you then."

"What? I'm not leaving you alone."

"Oh come on. You don't want to be stuck in this room for however long."

"I am not leaving you alone," I repeated more firmly.

Dean looked relieved at that but only said, "Well, whatever you want."

Gadreel came back and handed Dean a tube filled with a blue liquid. "Drink this. Samandriel will come to look in on you tonight. I would recommend getting as much rest as possible before the effects start."


	10. The Transformation

Dean.

I woke up feeling like I was on fire. I started to tear at the clothes I was wearing when something cold touched me. Immediately I started to crawl towards The Cold Thing. The Cold Thing wrapped itself around me and began to murmur to me. A little later I heard a scraping sound and turned my head to see a blurry red thing standing there.

"I brought both of you some food and I need to do my daily check on him," the red blob said.

"Dean has been extremely hot for the last few hours," The Cold Thing said.

"That's a good sign," the blob said. "The biggest danger to ice turn-scales is that the body does not interact well with the formula and begins to freeze." The red blob walked over to me and knelt down. It then opened my mouth and stuck something inside. After a moment it pulled the thing out and said, "His temperature looks normal for this stage, so that is nothing you need to be worried about." The blob then reached over and ran a hand along my back and felt up and down. It hurt when it pressed down and I tried to squirm away but The Cold Thing was in front of me. "He is definitely going to grow wings." Then there was a bright light in my eyes and I couldn't close them. "And possibly slitted pupils. If he tells you his vision is blurry, all it means is that the eyes are changing. I will be back to see you tomorrow. Try to get him to eat as much as you can." With that, the red blob turned to leave.

The Cold Thing began to try and unwrap me from it. "No," I protested weakly.

"Dean, I need to feed you. I will only be a tail length away," The Cold Thing said.

"No," I reiterated. "No moving. No leaving."

"You need to eat."

I ignored it and clung on tighter.

The Thing sighed and I felt it shift under me, but it was no longer trying to get me to get off so I ignored it. "Here," The Cold Thing said, holding something to my mouth. "You do not have to move, but you do need to eat."

I wasn't hungry and I didn't want to eat, but I also didn't want The Cold Thing to make me leave so I did as it had told me and ate everything it gave me. It began to stroke one hand through my hair, so I leaned back into the touch to let The Thing know that I liked it. "Try to get some sleep, Dean," The Cold Thing said, and under its gentle rhythmic stroking, it didn't take long for me to do as it had said.

Everything after that was a blur. I stayed pressed up against The Cold Thing, and it always made sure that I ate. Sometimes the red blob would come in and poke at me. I think I spent most of the time asleep.

The next time I woke up everything still looked slightly blurry, but I could think much more lucidly. But the only thing I was thinking was, "Hurts."

"I know," Castiel said. "Your wings are growing in. That means that you are almost done changing. Gadreel is going to come to look at you today."

We spent the next few hours talking, or more accurately, Castiel talked and I did my best to grunt out answers to any question he asked. Eventually, our mostly one-sided conversation was interrupted by the sound of the door sliding open. "Samandriel told me that it is almost time for his wings to come out," Gadreel announced. "After they do it will only be a day or two until you may leave." As he talked he walked over and crouched next to me. "I need to look him over to make certain that everything went properly."

Gadreel then proceeded to run his hands over my body and poke at me in almost any way imaginable, although thankfully he didn't touch my back. As he went he made little observations, although who he was talking to was a mystery. "There are no signs of scent glands. He has no claws. None of his teeth have sharpened. No sign of scale patched. Eyes are slitted." Gadreel sat back and turned to Castiel. "Hold him still"

"Why?" Castiel questioned.

"I need to check on his wings and tail. The new skin is very sensitive and it will hurt, but I need to see that everything is coming in correctly."

Castiel hesitated for a moment before wrapping his tail around my hips, holding my head to his neck, and pulling his wings over my arms. Gadreel reached over and began to press on the two large lumps on my back. I instantly started to scream and buck around, trying to get away from the pressure, but Castiel was much stronger than me so I was forced to stay. Gadreel continued to probe deeper and deeper into the lumps, slowly and carefully feeling over every part and completely ignoring my screams. I think Castiel might have been whispering to me, but I couldn't hear anything over my cries, couldn't focus on anything other than the pain.

Finally, the magnified pain stopped as Gadreel said, "The wings feel good. They will most likely come out tomorrow. You will want to wash them when this happens. Once you take him home you will have to teach him how to use them. Do not let him try to fly until the muscles are stronger, although they will develop at a much faster rate than normal. Samandriel will bring you a few shirts that can be put on and taken off around the wings."

It tuned out that I had relaxed too soon, as when Gadreel was done talking he reached down and began to feel another lump on the bottom of my back. Thankfully, he stopped touching this one much sooner adding that, "His tail is also growing properly. Samandriel should be in soon to give you everything you will need for the coming out."

I woke up to the pain in my back, worse than it had been before. When I moved to stretch out there was a loud tearing sound and the pain spiked for a second, before leaving almost completely at the bottom. I was currently sitting in Castiel's lap, which is where I had spent almost all of my time here, and I felt him reach around behind me and run one hand down my back. "Cas, what…?"

"Your tail came in," he explained. "I need to clean it now." I felt a weird pulling feeling, like a limb being moved but not in any place that a limb should be. Then I felt a wet cloth being dragged over it. 'Clean your tail.' I thought. 'I need to clean your tail. That was what Cas had said. And now you feel a new limb. You have a tail.'

Almost the moment that Castiel had finished cleaning my tail, my wing began to come out. When they finished, he cleaned them with the same care and diligence he had given my tail. "There. Everything is finished," he murmured, pulling me back into his lap.

He spent a long time just staring at the wings, so long that I asked, "Everything alright there?"

He looked like I had just brought him out of a daze, "Yes. It is just that your wings are beautiful."

"Oh," what did you say to that?

"You should rest some more. Having new limbs to adjust to must be tiring."

Well, he wasn't wrong, so I lay my head down on his shoulder and went to sleep.

It was two days later, and Gadreel had said I was clear to leave and that everything had gone well. We were standing outside of the cave and I wanted to get a look at my wings in a proper light. I didn't like to move my wings too much. Firstly, it still felt weird, much worse than the tail that I had mostly gotten used to. Secondly, I didn't like how the wings rubbed on the wing holes of my new shirt. It was a dark green and the wings fit into the holes by buttoning the shirt under each one. But I wanted to see them, and I was pretty sure Castiel wanted to look at them as well, so I stretched out my wings behind me. The top of the wing was a sky blue that ran down each of the finger bones, while the skin stretched between each bone was a lighter frostier color. The tail was a darker midnight blue with a half diamond in the tip. "You are absolutely stunning," Castiel murmured.

"Yeah, sure," I said, not sure what to do with the unwarranted praise. "Let's get going. I need to see how Sam is doing," I added changing the subject.

"I am sure that Sam is fine," Castiel reassured. "Missouri will take care of him."

"Well, I still want to get back."

"Try to keep your wings open for some of the flight, so you can get used to the feeling of the wind flowing around them."

I agreed, only because I didn't want to argue right now. I still hated flying and there was no way I was going to be doing it myself.

When we got back to Missouri's cottage the first thing I did was go see Sam. Missouri had indeed taken good care of him. He did look much better than he had when I had left. "Hey Sammy, I'm back."

Sam stopped a stared at me when he saw me.

"So, uh, how do you like them?" I asked. It was unnerving how he was staring at me, and despite the fact that I would never admit it, I was worried about what Sam would think of me.

"You have wings," Sam said, stating the obvious. After a moment of consideration, he added, "That's kind of awesome."

That was a very relieving thing to hear. The two of us talked about what had happened during our most recent separation, and after only a few moments (if you ignored the topic of conversation) everything was the same as it had always been between us.

When the two of us were done talking, I went upstairs to the room I had been lent. Castiel had been sprawled out on the bed reading a book, but he put it down and got up when he saw me walk in. He came up to me and we kissed. Castiel ran his hands through my hair, lightly scratching his claws along my scalp and pulling me into a deeper kiss. I leaned back slightly and said, "Guess I'm not the only one that's getting impatient for a repeat performance."

"If that is what you want then you are wearing far too much clothing."

"You aren't exactly naked yourself."

"We can change that."

A dragon and a turn-scale getting undressed was a decided mood killing event. Castiel still wasn't used to getting undressed and I had no idea how to remove the new wing accommodating shirt. In the end, we both help remove the other's clothes, just not in a sexy way. However, the clothing fight had been worth it, as now there was nothing in between us.

I started the kissing this time and slowly backed Castiel up to the bed and lightly pushed him down on it. We continued to kiss and I began to grind down on him, both of us quickly hardening.

Castiel suddenly reached up and stopped me. I felt a brief moment of hurt and worry, but before I could think too long about what I might have done wrong he flipped us over and said, "This time it is my turn." Being on my back was not comfortable. My wings were crushed part way under me and my tail was like laying with a rock shoved under my back. I very quickly forgot my discomfort as Castiel began to kiss and suck down my neck, carefully making sure not to let his sharpened teeth hurt me.

I tipped my head to the side giving him more skin to explore as a groan escaped me. "Oh, Cas, yes. Yes"

He continued to lick an icy trail down my chest and legs, before kissing his way back up, completely ignoring my aching, hard arousal. "Cas. Cas, please. Need you."

He laughed darkly, "And so you shall get me, but first I need to show just what you were doing to me the last time." Speaking of the last time, why was he now able to speak in full coherent sentences and I was the one begging? I had no time to dwell on this thought or on what he had meant, before a wave of pleasure more intense than anything I had ever felt before came over me.

Castiel was rubbing my wings, right where the bone of the wing met the skin of my back. Maybe having wings wouldn't be so bad. I tried to reach up and get at his wings to even the playing field but he just arched his back and held his wings up high out of my reach.

"You like that?" Castiel asked, imitating my previous question.

"You smug…" I couldn't finish that sentence as the dragon suddenly decided to dig into the muscles of my wings. Not only did my words turn into groans and pleas, but all coherent though completely left the building as Castiel decided that playing with one wing was enough. With his now free hand, he reached down and began to run it up and down my length. "Cas. Cas. I'm going to. Going to." And then the giant nuisance just stopped touching me. He was sitting over my hips but still out of my reach. "Cas, why did you stop? I was so close," I whined.

"It has almost been a month since I have enjoyed being with you, and you will not be getting off that easily. Now, how about you be a good little mate and open yourself up for me." I had no idea where this new Cas had come from, but I didn't really care because that was just about the hottest thing I had ever heard.

I reached up between his legs to the spot that the oil gland was located when an idea occurred to me. While still gathering the oil I twisted my hand around so I could rub the base of his arousal. Before I could though, Castiel leaned away. "If you cannot control yourself I have another pair on my neck that you may use."

That was actually a terrible threat as I already had enough oil on my hand, but I still stopped in favor of opening myself up. Castiel hungrily watched me until I announced to him that I was ready.

Castiel pushed me back down on the bed and grabbed both of my wrists in one hand, holding them down above my head. After carefully guiding himself into me his other hand went back to playing with my wings. While Castiel stayed motionless inside me so I could adjust, a new plan managed to come through. I wanted to get some revenge on the smug dragon and to get a little control, not that I wasn't enjoying myself immensely. Remembering what had happened the first time and the addition of a third appendage, I quickly snuck my tail up Castiel's spine to the place that his wings emerged. He let out a surprised squeak that quickly turned into a moan.

I finally seemed to have gotten him to stop teasing. Castiel began to move inside of me while also taking his free hand off of my wings and using it to stroke me instead. It wasn't long before I came, with Castiel following right behind. After we had gotten cleaned up the two of us fell asleep, this time with nothing in between us.


	11. The Flight

Castiel.

Getting two creatures on my back was much harder than one. Obviously, they wouldn't both fit while I was in my human or half-way form, and in my dragon from my scales were very smooth and in no way climbable. The first time we had done this Dean had put Sam on my back, I changed, and then he climbed a tree and hopped onto me. This time, not being in such dire circumstances, we had time to think of a better plan. I fully turned and let the brothers climb onto my head before carefully bending around so they could slide onto my back.

We had spent a month a Missouri's, letting Sam heal and helping Dean get used to his wings. I had enjoyed my time there, seeing Missouri after so long, getting to be with Dean, and talking to Sam, but I missed my cave and was excited to get home.

The first thing to do upon landing at the cave was to show the brothers their new room. I had made sure that the room was near the entrance so it would be easy to go in or out without getting lost. "I made this room for you," I said. "There are beds in the corners, a washroom back there, and the water is fresh. You may also add anything that you please."

"Thanks, Cas. This is great." Sam said with a yawn. "Think I'll go check out those beds right now."

Dean turned to look at me and awkwardly said, "This room is great. You really did a good job with it, but it feels really hot now."

"Would you like to come and share my chambers?"

"Yeah, but only if you don't mind."

I smiled at my beautiful, nervous mate. In answer, I wrapped my tail around his hips and began to lead him away. Over his shoulder, Dean called, "Night Sammy."

"Night Dean." echoed after us.

When we got to my sleeping cavern, I looked around at the indent in the gold wistfully. Dean, of course, noticed my hesitation. "What's wrong?"

"I have loved spending this last month getting to know you and having someone to go to sleep with and wake up to is a luxury I have not had since I hatched, but I am unused to spending so much time in my half-way form. I did so out of necessity, but now we are somewhere I can sleep in my true form."

"So why don't you?"

"As I said, I have greatly enjoyed laying with you at night, and I do not see how a dragon would make a good bed partner."

"You crazy, Cas? That would be awesome. You would be the bed."

"Well," I said ducking my head, "if you think so."

I woke up the next morning happier then I had been since I left my birthing nest. I was in my true form, surrounded by my impressive Hoard, in my own cave, with my mate curled up by my side, and another living partner down the corridor.

I shifted form, before gently kissing my love awake. "Good morning, Dean."

"Morning Cas," Dean greeted wrapping one beautiful blue wing around me.

"Your wings have been getting much stronger," I commented. "After breakfast, we should start you flying lessons."

That woke him up. "Flying lessons? No. No way."

"What is wrong with this plan?"

"I told you, Cas, I don't like heights."

"But you will be flying under your own power."

"Exactly! I would probably see a bird or something and get distracted."

"You do not give yourself enough credit. Just get off the ground once. If you truly do not like it, then I will not bring it up again." I did not want my Dean to be scared, but I had always dreamed of going on flights with my future mate. It was how dragons bonded with each other. Our wings were our most sensitive part, as they were not covered in armor, and flying required the wings to be spread at all times, not to mention that damaging anther's wing in flight would also result in a fall.

Dean must have sensed some of my sadness as he said, "Okay, but only once."

It was about noon when I managed to get Dean out onto the overhang of the cave. I wasn't quite certain how to continue from there. I had never had to explain how to fly, it was like trying to explain how to walk. I flapped my wings a few times and easily hovered about a foot off the ground. "Give your wings a few hard downward thrusts," I instructed.

This was a massive failure. Apparently, it took practice to take off like that. "It might help to get a running start while you learn." This went worse. All the running tired him, and by the end, he was covered in bruises from falling.

"This is stupid. I don't want to fly anyway. Can't we just go in? I have a much more fun idea of what we could do with our wings," Dean said, with a suggestive wink.

"I have one more idea I want to try," I insisted. Flying was easier if there was a higher point to jump off of. For obvious reasons, I could not push Dean off of the cliffside, but maybe there was a way to get higher. Without giving him a chance to protest I landed in front of him, picked him up, wrapped his legs around my waist, and took off.

Dean screamed and clung tightly to me. "Dude put me down. This isn't funny. Just stop. Put me back down."

I ignored him and said, "Open your wings and try flapping them." It took about ten moments to coax Dean's wings open and even longer to get them to flap right but eventually, we managed it. "Alright. Now just unwrap yourself from me and begin to move backward."

"Are you crazy? Do you want me to die, or something?"

"Dean, we are a foot above the ground." Upon noticing this, Dean began to do as I said, although it was probably more to save the little dignity he had left than any other reason. Whatever the reason it worked. We were now both flying with our hands locked together, but both of our arms spread out.

"Come on. Let's go out farther," I laughed happily. I began to fly out farther before he could protest. As the two of us flew together over the forest, Dean seemed to forget his fears and worries.

Up ahead, was a beautiful sunset, and under its glare, I stopped our flight. I turned to Dean and said, "My perfect mate. I love you." I proceeded to pull him into me so I was holding both of us and kissed him.

"So do I," he answered as he pulled back.

By the time we got back to thecave the sun had fully set and a full moon was rising high above the forest, casting its silver light onto the green leaves and giving them the appearance of being wrapped up in a protective layer of ice.

* * *

I would like to thank everyone that read, and especially the people that left comments.


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